Hume: AG “Crybaby”

“To those two men, race has been both a shield and a sword that they have used effectively to defend themselves and attack others,” Hume continued. “It is depressing at this stage in our national life, after all we’ve been through on this issue and given the overwhelming consensus of civil rights, that this stuff is still going on.”

Brit Hume commentary

“For Attorney General Eric Holder, Justice is for Democrats only”

A veteran Justice Department lawyer says that Attorney General Eric Holder has politicized the department in a way he hadn’t seen before. In short, “Holder is the worst person to hold the position of attorney general since the disgraced John Mitchell.”

Now in his sixth year as attorney general, Holder has increasingly tilted the department in an ideological direction. It’s one thing to emphasize President Obama’s legal priorities. It’s quite another to decide not to enforce certain federal laws — such as the ban on marijuana — or urge state attorney generals to refuse to defend local laws on same-sex marriage.

“Cornyn’s Military Voting Rights Bill Moves Forward”

The Senate Rules Committee passed the bipartisan Safeguarding Elections for our Nation’s Troops through Reforms and Improvements Act (The SENTRI Act) authored by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). The bill, passed unanimously by the Rule Committee, now moves forward to the full Senate for a floor vote, if Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will schedule it.

New allegation of Florida voter suppression: “No potty breaks in polling places”

The problem might arise when precincts are located in private buildings, which don’t have to allow public bathroom access, or in churches and other religious facilities, which are exempt from federal law requiring accessible restrooms for people with disabilities. Elections administrators have long relied on those locations to set up Miami-Dade’s more than 500 polling places.

Two years ago, the nonprofit Center for Independent Living of South Florida asked the department run by Elections Supervisor Penelope Townsley, who is appointed by Mayor Carlos Gimenez, about its plans for giving the disabled access to the polls.  Marc Dubin, the center’s director, said he hoped the county would try to find new voting sites to replace polling places without accessible restrooms, or that it would pay for portable toilets outside those locations.

Instead, the elections department told him that it would prohibit all voters from using restrooms. If no voters could go to the bathroom, the county argued, then it could not be accused of discriminating against only the disabled ones.  “This is the most bizarre response I’ve ever gotten, that we’re going to shut down access for everyone so as not to discriminate,” Dubin said.

Not only does Dubin counter that the county’s contention is incorrect — even if no voters are allowed to use the restroom, federal law requires modifications to be made for the disabled, he said — but he also accuses Miami-Dade of trying to keep voters from the polls.  

“This is a very clear way to suppress the vote,” he said. “Telling people, ‘We have 12-hour lines but you can’t go to the bathroom?’ You can be guaranteed that people won’t come out to vote.”    More at the Miami Herald.

“What Congress Can Do to Stop Racial Discrimination”

Legal Memorandum from Heritage authors Roger Clegg, Hans A. von Spakovsky, and Elizabeth Slattery.

Abstract:

Discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity is unconstitutional, unlawful, and morally repugnant. The government should not sort people according to such innate characteristics, yet such criteria often factor into government programs and protections. Jobs should go to the most qualified individuals; contracts should be awarded to the lowest qualified bidders; the students who are most likely to excel academically should be admitted to taxpayer-funded universities; and all should be protected equally from discrimination. A number of states have enacted laws banning all forms of discrimination. Congress should eliminate racial discrimination in federal contracting and employment and federally funded programs, including educational institutions; require disclosure of preferential university admission policies; and limit and clarify when claims of “disparate impact” may be brought.

“In the eyes of the government, we are just one race here. It is American.”
—Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia