After losing important voting case, Holder DOJ fights over $2 million legal fees it owes

The Blog of Legal Times reports:


The U.S. Department of Justice is fighting a request from the lawyers for Shelby Co., Ala., for more than $2 million in legal fees and costs tied to their challenge of the constitutionality of a provision of the Voting Rights Act.  

…The U.S. Supreme Court in June, in a 5-4 decision, struck down the provision of the Voting Rights Act that established the formula for determining which jurisdictions were required to give the Justice Department or a federal court the authority to review certain electoral changes before they were implemented.
What is even more interesting is the Government lawyer response to the nature of the case:
The department’s attorneys, including Avner Shapiro of the DOJ Civil Rights Division, argue three points against the fee request. Among them: There’s no language in the Voting Rights Act “even hinting that the government consents to having attorney’s fees awarded against it,” Shapiro wrote.

…”The thrust of Shelby County’s lawsuit was to vindicate States’ rights, not to protect federal voting rights,” Shapiro wrote in the Justice Department’s papers.

Supreme Court ruling: “Inconvenience in obtaining photo ID no more significant than the usual burdens of voting”

In a recent legal document, the State of Texas quotes the Supreme Court ruling in the Crawford case on the nationwide legality of requiring a photo ID in voting.  A 6-3 majority in Crawford case upheld the overall constitutionality of the Indiana photo ID law and the majority stated that the possible slight inconvenience to get a photo ID at an election office or drivers license office was no more significant or burdensome than the usual burdens of registration and voting.

Mississippi voter ID campaign includes commercials and outreach to political parties, civic clubs, religious organizations, and county officials

This Jackson Free Press reports the first test of the photo ID law will be in the GOP primary.  The campaign includes commercials and outreach to political parties and other civic and local government groups. 

Of the voter ID awareness campaign, Hosemann told reporters Monday that his office is airing two 30-second TV commercials—one that started Monday and one that starts in January. Hosemann said he and his staff also are speaking to political parties, civic clubs, religious organizations, city and county elected officials, and other groups that are in touch with local communities. He said he’s asking them to help share information about the new law and to help find people who lack an acceptable form of photo ID.

“We are going to take great pains to reach everyone,” Hosemann said Monday during a news conference at the Capitol.

Texas: “Prominent veterans of the Executive Branch have endorsed photo ID laws”

In responding to DOJ allegations that the passage of photo ID laws must have been done with intent to discriminate against minorities, Texas points out  in legal documents that Executive Branch veterans (former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker III) jointly endorsed photo ID in its recommendations in its report “Building Confident in U.S. Elections” as a way to improve elections in the United States.

Texas: Opponents of Photo ID law make non-factual claim that “voter ID will cause long lines and burden all voters”

In its Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit against the ID law, the State Texas notes a number of times that the opponents to photo ID law are now making the accusation that the law will cause long lines and burden all voters.  The exaggeration and hyperbole of such claims reveals the weakness of the lawsuit against the new law. There is simply no evidence to support this baseless claim.  See the legal document here.

Mississippi Secretary of State starts voter ID outreach program

In Mississippi, the Clarion Ledger reports: Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann began a voter ID outreach campaign today to encourage anyone without an acceptable form of photo identification to contact his office so a free photo ID can be provided in advance of the June 3 congressional primary election. “We are committed to ensuring everyone who is qualified to vote has the opportunity to cast a ballot, and we need your help,” Hosemann said today at the Secretary of State’s office in the state Capitol. 

“Voter ID machines installed in all 75 Arkansas counties”

State Mark Martin recently announced that the implementation of the state’s photo-ID system  is complete. The Secretary of State’s office provided Voter ID systems to each of Arkansas’s 75 counties, allowing each county clerk’s office to produce photo identification cards at no charge for voters who don’t have them. “This project has put counties in compliance with the requirements of Act 595 of 2013. It also provides additional integrity to our electoral system,” Martin said.  link at HumanEvents.com

Obama repeats voter suppression lies; intends to offer federal legislation based on findings of the Presidential Election Commission

CNS reports that:  President Obama agreed with “Hardball” host Chris Matthews on Thursday that Republicans are trying to deny people the right to vote, and he specifically mentioned long lines at polling places as a problem. …Obama said he’s asked election lawyers to “sit down with a group of experts”  to come up with “a whole series of voter reforms.”  ‘”They’re supposed to report back to me by the end of this year, so that early next year, we’re going to put forward what we know will be a bipartisan effort — or a bipartisan proposal — to encourage people to vote. 

President Obama says he wants bipartisan reforms.  He does not further that goal when he feigns ignorance of the voting process and repeats the lies of some dark conspiracy to suppress votes. 
The “election lawyers and group of experts” will likely provide a number of recommended best practices in registration and voting practices across the country. It will be significant that the Presidential Commission will find no facts or evidence to support the claim of voter suppression or that long lines were caused by intentional actions by any state legislature, election official or political party.  It is doubtful that any proposed federal legislation will be bipartisan or seriously considered by the Congress if  President partisans in the White House write the bill for their activists and repeat the lie over and over.