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October 18, 2014 12:00 pm - NewsBehavingBadly.com

Justice Ruth Ginsburg issued a blistering dissent after Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas can use its controversial voter identification law.

[su_center_ad]Ginsburg wrote, “The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully discriminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitutional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters,” Ginsburg wrote.

Ginsburg went on to argue that the Fifth Circuit was negligent in ignoring the findings of a full trial in district court, which found that the law was “enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose and would yield a prohibited discriminatory result.”

“The potential magnitude of racially discriminatory voter disenfranchisement counseled hesitation before disturbing the District Court’s findings and final judgment,” Ginsburg wrote. “Senate Bill 14 may prevent more than 600,000 registered Texas voters (about 4.5% of all registered voters) from voting in person for lack of compliant identification. Id., at 50–51, 54. A sharply disproportionate percentage of those voters are African-American or Hispanic.”

“…Texas has been found in violation of the Voting Rights Act in every redistricting cycle from and after 1970,” she wrote.

While Republicans claim Voter ID laws are a means to uphold the integrity of the vote, it’s a thinly veiled obstacle created to stop  a large number of registered voters from casting their ballots, most of them black, Hispanic and/or elderly. [su_csky_ad]

D.B. Hirsch
D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

46 responses to Ruth Bader Ginsburg Writes Blistering Dissent On Texas Voter ID Law

  1. Jake October 18th, 2014 at 12:13 pm

    Hooray for justice Ginsburg – not afraid to call this what it is – A POLL TAX – a new Republican tax – why is nobody else saying this?

    • Wayout October 18th, 2014 at 12:58 pm

      When something is available for free it isn’t a tax, poll or otherwise.

      • mea_mark October 18th, 2014 at 1:06 pm

        So all the documents required for getting an ID are now free? I don’t think so. Therefore it is not free it is essentially a tax or fee that is being imposed on those that can’t afford it, in order to keep them from voting.

      • OldLefty October 18th, 2014 at 1:17 pm

        Like mea_mark said, the documents, and the transportation, (often over 100 miles)…is.

      • Jake October 18th, 2014 at 1:17 pm

        Liar liar liar – unless they are giving out free IDs to people with different color skin from Republicans – THIS IS A TAX! Its a Melanin Tax.

  2. mea_mark October 18th, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    If the courts are acknowledging this is an unconstitutional law but are allowing Texas to implement it anyways, does that mean that if people are not allowed to vote they can sue the state of Texas for having their constitutional rights knowingly, willfully violated? It would be interesting to see thousands of cases filed against the State of Texas. Sounds expensive.

    • Kick Frenzy October 18th, 2014 at 4:12 pm

      I really would love to see that happen.

      Anyone here live in Texas?
      And know how to get a class action lawsuit together?
      😉

      • mea_mark October 18th, 2014 at 4:17 pm

        I am thinking a whole bunch of separate cases, to crash the whole system in Texas. Make Texas pay many thousands of dollars for every person they won’t allow to vote. This should go down in history as one of the stupidest things the republicans have ever done.

        • R.J. Carter October 18th, 2014 at 4:20 pm

          That’s kind of “Cloward-Piven” isn’t it?

          • Kick Frenzy October 18th, 2014 at 4:24 pm

            It is and I agree that it’s not the best method.
            I would rather see one large class action suit that gets heavy media coverage.

            That being said, after reading the description of that method, I immediately recognized it as part of the strategy that Republicans have used since President Obama was inaugurated.
            Of course, they also employ the opposite (do nothing excessively) to achieve the same outcome (stall out government, trying to make the president take the fall for their actions).

  3. William October 18th, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    Texas the lone brain cell state.

  4. garyinaz66 October 18th, 2014 at 1:00 pm

    of course we need to have proof of i.d. to vote, thinking otherwise is insane and defacto backing of fraud
    Voter Fraud in Arizona’s 2014 Election? You be the Judge. Video and more. Find out what this thug was saying to A. J. LaFaro, the Chairman of Maricopa County Republican Party. WARNING: Very foul language.
    http://www.gilbertwatch.com/index.cfm/blog/voter-fraud-in-arizona-s-2014-election-you-be-the-judge/

    • NW10 October 18th, 2014 at 1:09 pm

      I’ve been voting via mail for the ten years I’ve been registered to vote. When are you right wingers going to ban mail in ballots?

  5. NW10 October 18th, 2014 at 1:08 pm

    John Fugelsang said it best: if right wingers truly believed in needing IDs to vote, they’d ban mail in ballots.

  6. OldLefty October 18th, 2014 at 1:13 pm

    If they were even remotely sincere, they would move heaven and earth, to make it very easy for people to get the IDs and and not require them until everyone who voted for decades without them, can get them.
    They should have mobile trucks to take them to the people…. even if it takes a decade.

    Instead, they are making it very difficult for the elderly, the poor and students to get them.

    • Rusty Shackleford October 18th, 2014 at 1:55 pm

      If they were even remotely sincere, they’d just ink people’s fingers. Cheaper, easier, accessible to everyone, and stops in-person voting fraud exactly as effectively as any ID.

      • R.J. Carter October 18th, 2014 at 1:58 pm

        Although it does nothing to verify citizenship — unless the system also implements some sort of card-check of a non-photo variety.

        • Rusty Shackleford October 18th, 2014 at 2:00 pm

          Citizenship is already verified when you register to vote.

          • R.J. Carter October 18th, 2014 at 2:21 pm

            When you register, yes. But if you’re not showing that registration when you’re actually casting the ballot, it’s essentially useless.

          • Rusty Shackleford October 18th, 2014 at 2:31 pm

            Why? How do you plan to cast a ballot without being registered?

          • R.J. Carter October 18th, 2014 at 2:41 pm

            You give the pollworker a name and they give you a ballot.

          • Rusty Shackleford October 18th, 2014 at 2:56 pm

            Is this a thing that happens? People voting in other people’s names in person?

          • R.J. Carter October 18th, 2014 at 3:18 pm

            Without checks, how would we know?

          • Red Mann October 18th, 2014 at 3:49 pm

            Because the number of actual fraud cases is on the small side of miniscule. Is this worth the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands and the millions of dollars that have, and will be, expended?

            Some republicans have publically admitted that the reasons for this is to give their party an advantage. Of course this idea goes back a ways:

            “Now many of our Christians have what I call the ‘goo-goo syndrome.’ Good government. They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” —Paul Weyrich, 1980

  7. Foundryman October 18th, 2014 at 1:22 pm

    Just how bad is Texas’s vote fraud problem? Are hundreds of thousands of people going to be denied to vote because one person voted fraudulently last time?

    And why can’t the state send everyone registered a temporary voter ID registration to be used this cycle? It’s pretty obvious the law is designed to keep legitimate voters from voting, which of course is the biggest fraud of all….

    • Jake October 18th, 2014 at 1:24 pm

      I’m fairly sure there has not been a successful prosecution of voter fraud in Texas in the last 200 years.

    • mea_mark October 18th, 2014 at 3:41 pm

      You already are supposed to have a voter registration card, it just doesn’t have a picture on it. Now you need an additional GOP approved picture ID to vote in Texas.

  8. Suzanne McFly October 18th, 2014 at 1:52 pm

    Disenfranchise thousands to stop one possible fraudulent vote? Makes no sense to anyone with a brain cell.

    • jasperjava October 18th, 2014 at 2:20 pm

      Makes perfect sense to those who would benefit from disenfranchising thousands of voters.

  9. whatthe46 October 18th, 2014 at 2:04 pm

    if the i.d. must be a picture i.d., then they are still screwed (unless they are able to get it on time) texas does not give picture i.d.’s at the time of aquiring your i.d. the i.d. is pictureless and takes a couple of weeks before you receive it in the mail. which is dumb.

  10. Dcbos October 18th, 2014 at 2:30 pm

    Flat out changing America One vote at a time;this is not the Roberts court its the Jim Crow court ; this Court is a part of a scheme to turn our country into the land of barons and surfs; planed by the Birchers who are using their wealth to get people to vote against their own best interest.

    • rg9rts October 19th, 2014 at 3:53 am

      Its working….isn’t it

  11. Dcbos October 18th, 2014 at 2:37 pm

    Contempt by Court = Contempt of this Court . what was their justification for this decision that takes away thousand of citizens votes ; A disgrace the magnitude

  12. Red Mann October 18th, 2014 at 3:37 pm

    This Supreme Court is probably the most disgraceful in American history, and that’s saying a lot. This is the legacy of three Republicans; Reagan: Scalia and Kennedy, G. H. W. Bush: Thomas and G. W. Bush: Roberts and Alito. These justices routinely vote with their ideology and religious beliefs rather than respect for the Constitution, the law and the American people (excluding corporations and religionists). The side effects of their decisions on voting, campaign funds and corporate religious rights will haunt us for decades.

  13. R.J. Carter October 18th, 2014 at 3:55 pm

    Really? By claiming to be Joe Smith down the street, whom you know isn’t voting that day because he’s one of the 80% that doesn’t give a crap, and you present an ID that says you’re Jim Johnson, that wouldn’t prevent it?

    • Kick Frenzy October 18th, 2014 at 4:10 pm

      Sure, photo ID could prevent that type of voter fraud.
      But that isn’t an issue we’ve had to deal with in any meaningful numbers.

      That’s like me building a thousand foot wide moat around my house because of that one time when a few crickets got inside.
      Except for the crickets would cause more of a disturbance than the amount of fraudulent votes cast in the entire history of the country.
      And most of them would have made it in by flying over the moat anyway (that’s my allegory for fraud via mail-in votes, which is the majority of fraud cases).

    • Rusty Shackleford October 18th, 2014 at 4:23 pm

      And if we ink your finger, that means your attempt to imitate Joe disqualifies you from making your own vote. A net gain of zero for a big risk, so why would you do it?

      • R.J. Carter October 18th, 2014 at 6:54 pm

        Still assuming you were registered in the first place to have a vote to lose.

        • Rusty Shackleford October 18th, 2014 at 8:11 pm

          You think people who can’t even be bothered to register to vote care enough to risk prison committing voter fraud?

          • R.J. Carter October 19th, 2014 at 2:13 pm

            Depends on how close state boundaries are.

  14. tracey marie October 18th, 2014 at 7:21 pm

    all the hard work registering people and this happens, Wendy Davis and Leticia Van De Putte have to win.

    • mea_mark October 18th, 2014 at 7:41 pm

      People should still show up to vote. It will take everyone longer and those without IDs can vote with provisional ballot. Perhaps if enough people show up to vote without ID and only with registration card, it can be shown clear discrimination is taking place and the state can be forced to count the provisional ballots or face additional lawsuits and run the risk of permanently being forced into undergoing preclearance.

      http://votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/need-id/
      11. What happens if I refuse to show proof of identity?

      Voters who refuse to show proof of identity will be allowed to vote by provisional ballot. However, please be advised that a refusal to show ID is not a valid ground for casting a provisional ballot, and it is likely that the voter’s ballot will be rejected by the ballot board.

      Please tell people to still vote, it could force Texas to abide by strict federal regulations in the future.

      • tracey marie October 18th, 2014 at 7:47 pm

        absolutely, at the last election there was record amounts of provisionals because of the purging

        • rg9rts October 19th, 2014 at 3:52 am

          Its the only way the gopee knows how to win…cheat…Tag

  15. rg9rts October 19th, 2014 at 3:51 am

    Ruth you are wasting your time on a court that is so far right they think Hitler is a leftist

  16. arc99 October 29th, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    to all you voter id fans, the fact that there is nothing but deafening silence from you about incidents like this one, convinces me that the goal is voter suppression and has nothing to do with electoral integrity

    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/27/texas-vote-id-proof-certificate-minority-law?CMP=share_btn_tw

    Before SB14 came into effect, Kennie was able to vote by simply showing a voter registration card posted to his home address. Under the vastly more stringent demands of the new law, he must take with him to the polling station one of six forms of identification bearing his photograph. The problem is, he doesn’t have any of the six and there’s no way he’s going to be able to acquire one any time soon.