So why is the case important? Because the language of Chief Justice John Roberts’s opinion suggests that the Court remains committed to the project announced most prominently in the Citizens United case, four years ago: the deregulation of American political campaigns.

The court, and Roberts in particular, has been very clear that regulation of campaign contributions is allowed under a single rationale. As he wrote in McCutcheon, “It is not an acceptable governmental objective to ‘level the playing field,’ or to ‘level electoral opportunities,’ or to ‘equalize the financial resources of candidates.’” Rather, Roberts wrote, “Congress may target only a specific type of corruption—‘quid pro quo’ corruption.”

I’ve not covered the North Carolina numbers for a variety of reasons.  One is that I suspect this story has a downward trajectory.  The usual suspects at Brennan and MSNBC are pushing the trajectory downward as they are always expected to do anytime possible election crimes are revealed.  Wouldn’t it be nice if once in a while they spoke up when it became obvious crimes actually occurred.  But that’s not why they play the game.  Objectivity isn’t their calling.

What is a concern is the voter history file in the North Carolina numbers.  Who compiled the voter history file from the other states, because that isn’t the easiest or cleanest task.  So far, no article I have found has revealed the sourcing of the voter history file.  Did someone in NC get them from the individual states?  If so, name the states of overlap.  Name the entity that got it.  No story I have read does.

Is the voter history from a national database, such that the Database Whose Name We Dare not Speak?  Doubtful it is Catalyst.  So who’s national database is it?  Who is doing the data crunching?  Who is doing the controls for name variations?  How rigorous are they?

All of these are questions I want to see answered before any significance is attached to the NC numbers. Otherwise, they will keep on their downward trajectory.

UPDATE: I’ve been told the voter history data comes from each individual state as captured by the cross state check program. Thus, I am told it is not from private databases.  The question then becomes how accurate is the voter history field.  Most places still use paper poll books.  The accuracy of the voter history files will drive how many of these folks voted twice in the 2012 election.  That error could cut both ways: false negatives in voter history as well as false positives.  Depending on the rate of turnout, the error probably comes on average more from one direction.  Despite these uncertainties, we can most likely count on two things.  First, ongoing dismissal or downplaying of criminal activity in American elections from the usual suspects cited in the MSNBC story.  Second, a total lack of prosecutions from the Public Integrity unit at DOJ for double voting. 

“We have the ‘Walking Dead,’ and now we’ve got the ‘Voting Dead,'” said state Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg. “I guess the reason there’s no proof of voter fraud is because we weren’t looking for it.”   Fox News link.

Illegal voting.  Sentencing in six weeks. 

Anita Earls spoke at a Legislative Building news conference urging Congress to include North Carolina in an amendment to the federal Voting Rights Act.  Link.  

My short take at PJ Media.

“One of the most interesting aspects of the case is the role of lawyer Dan Backer.  Backer is the driving force behind the decision.  He went out and sought plaintiffs who could help strike down this law.  Backer represents an activist breed of conservative lawyer who borrows the tactics of offense from the left and seeks to alter the legal landscape and the future of the nation.”

Overall contribution limits struck down by Supreme Court.

“We welcome you here to Rocky Mount where the Voting Rights Act that was signed in 1965 created this area as a covered district – one of the 40 counties in North Carolina that was covered by the preclearance requirement of Section IV,” Dr. Barber said. “Now no NC counties are covered by the full federal voter protections, and look what happened: extremists passed the worst voter suppression law we have seen since Jim Crow. North Carolina is the testing ground. This is today’s Selma.”

It is only April 1 and the excuses for a potential poor showing by Democrats has already started.  

Attorneys submitted the plan in early March. The agreement, according to court documents, dictated that the state elections board would provide plaintiffs’ attorneys with all electronic records “pursuant to search terms agreed upon by the parties” for review.

Only a portion of those documents, the ones that the plaintiffs and defendants deem to fit the discovery requests, will end up in the litigation. The plan prohibits attorneys from sharing the contents with anyone until an agreement is made. Defense attorneys have five business days for the first 3,000 documents, plus a day for each additional 1,000 documents, to identify any requested documents they consider privileged or feel do not meet the terms of the discovery request.