Elisberg Industries
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like
Decent Quality Since 1847

The Fix is In

8/27/2013

7 Comments

 
With so many Republican state legislatures passing restrictive Voter ID laws to make voting my minorities difficult, it is with great surprise that, of all people, the conservative  Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) said on Monday that he wants to pass legislation to fix the part of the Voting Rights Act that was struck down by the Supreme Court and allowed all these GOP actions.  The High Court wasn't against the pure section of the rule itself, but felt there were things in that were specifically unconstitutional.  It's those things that Mr. Sensenbrenner wants to fix so that the law would hold up to Court scrutiny.

“The first thing we have to do is take the monkey wrench that the court threw in it, out of the Voting Rights Act," he said, "and then use that monkey wrench to be able to fix it so that it is alive, well, constitutional and impervious to another challenge that will be filed by the usual suspects.”

Moreover, he wants this finished and passed now.  By the end of the year.  That's only four months away.

The shock in all this is that it's Jim Sensenbrenner -- no fan of anything not far right -- who is proposing the law.  What I wonder is how much this is the sort of "Nixon opening the door to China" kind of thing, where it takes a conservative to propose the fix, so that it's not seen as a purely liberal issue.  And given that the last time Congress voted on this law not long ago, and the vote was close to unanimous, it's not unreasonable to think that there actually is great bipartisan support for it, so a conservative Republican broaching the issue may not be totally shocking.  Furthermore, it's possible that Republicans leaders see the huge backlash rising against these draconian laws, most notably in North Carolina and Texas, and want to stop the bleeding.

It also seems that, baring some huge monkey wrench of Congress' own, this would be something that can reasonably pass.  After all, it just needs 218 votes, and Democrats should vote near-unanimously for it.  Right now they have 208 members of the House.  If "only" 200 of the Democrats vote for it, then a mere 18 Republicans would have to vote for it.  And since it's being proposed by a leading conservative Republican, you have to figure that he knows he has far more than 18 votes of support on his side of the aisle.

That only leaves the Senate, which is controlled by the Democrats.  It would seem therefore that the only hurdle is if some Republican Senator decides to filibuster the issue, which would seem to be a death wish by the GOP.

So...it is with a positive sense of caution that would make this problem appear to be able to be resolved.

Yipes.  And cautiously huzzah...
7 Comments
gordon kent
8/27/2013 01:44:35 am

What would it mean for all the new laws passed in states like Texas and North Carolina? Wouldn't they continue to exist til challenged and brought down? How long would that take? Surely this wouldn't automatically overturn them, would it?

Reply
Robert Elisberg
8/27/2013 02:52:09 am

The only comment *I've* heard is that Ruth Bader Ginsberg gave an interview the other day where she said she regretted an earlier decision she'd made that helped lead to the VRA decision. But that doesn't mean there haven't been other comments.

Reply
gordon kent
8/27/2013 03:17:22 am

Too bad they can't put Roberts, Scalia and Thomas on 60 Minutes or Face the Nation to be grilled on this...

I also think Thomas should be made to vote in North Carolina.... maybe if he has to wait in line in the rain for 12 hours to vote he'll think a bit differently... maybe not.

Robert Elisberg
8/27/2013 02:12:26 am

You ask many fine questions, Grasshopper.

No legal expert, I, and I haven't heard any discussion of this. But it would seem that until there was a state or federal Supreme Court ruling that overturned the laws, those in existence would still be valid. OR until the laws were specifically challenged -- and my understanding is that the Justice Department has already challenged the Texas law. And is on the verge of doing the same with the N.C. law.

Of course, once the new law is in operation, I suspect you can count in seconds the time until the state laws were challenged.

Reply
gordon kent
8/27/2013 02:27:42 am

Has there been ANY comment from the Supreme Court regarding all these new Voting "Rights" Acts? After all, their ruling assumed that the old law was no longer necessary?

Reply
Robert Elisberg
8/27/2013 03:44:53 am

The way North Carolina is going, they might try to not even let Clarence Thomas vote...

Reply
gordon kent
8/27/2013 03:57:10 am

"might"? There's no doubt about it to me....

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Elisberg Industries gets a commission if you click here before shopping on Amazon.
    Picture
    Follow @relisberg

    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.



    Picture
           Feedspot Badge of Honor

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Audio
    Audio Land
    Books
    Business
    Chicago
    Consumer Product
    Education
    Email Interview
    Entertainment
    Environment
    Fine Art
    Food
    From The Management
    Health
    History
    Huffery
    Humor
    Internet
    Journalism
    Law
    Los Angeles
    Media
    Morning News Round Up
    Movies
    Music
    Musical
    Personal
    Photograph
    Piano Puzzler
    Politics
    Popular Culture
    Profiles
    Quote Of The Day
    Radio
    Religion
    Restaurants
    Science
    Sports
    Technology
    Tech Tip
    Theater
    The Writers Workbench
    Tidbits
    Travel
    Tv
    Twitter
    Video
    Videology
    Well Worth Reading
    Words-o-wisdom
    Writing

    RSS Feed

© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2022
Contact Us    About EI    Chicago Cubs
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like