Texas: All Hat and No Cattle on Voter ID?
Folks in Texas are laying down Texas-sized boasts that they’ll fight to the last in court to get voter ID approved. Great, it should have happened a year ago. The decision to submit Texas voter ID to Eric Holder’s corrupt Justice Department was foolhardy, bordering on suicidal. There is a way to tell if Texas really is finally all in, or still employing misguided half-measures.
Simply, will Texas challenge Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, particularly the application of the law, as unconstitutional?
If Texas does not, then Texas really isn’t committed to getting voter ID approved by the court with the most effective legal strategy.
If Texas files in federal court to have voter ID approved, and once again tip-toes around the constitutional issue, then Texas is not defending the law as effectively as it could. Sources tell me that some officials in Texas don’t want to go all-in against the Holder DOJ because they are afraid – afraid of the political risk of challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act that was used to block Texas voter ID.
Texas tip-toed around the constitutional issues in the redistricting lawsuit seeking to have legislative districts approved. Fine, but voter ID is different.
More importantly, the use of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to block Texas voter ID is, in fact, unconstitutional. The Voting Section used statistical exaggerations and misapplication of the law to justify the objection. Why wouldn’t Texas challenge the constitutionality of the action against Texas?
Florida and Arizona have challenged the constitutionality of Section 5 as it applies to those states. Here is the question for Texas: what price politically have those states paid for challenging Section 5?
Answer: None.
Consider Georgia. Holder’s Voting Rights Section, where I used to work, blocked Georgia’s citizenship verification law. Georgia responded by challenging the constitutionality of Section 5 in court, and DOJ capitulated. Sources tell me DOJ is petrified of losing Section 5, and it affects their preclearance decisions.
The political appointees are deliberately assigning some of the most radical new Holder attorney hires to review voter ID laws. Jennifer Marazano was assigned to review Texas voter ID. That should have been the first warning sign the law was doomed at DOJ. Marazano came from the Advancement Project, a group that opposes election integrity efforts around the nation.
Texas officials should read some of the left-wing blogs bemoaning how quickly DOJ folds when the constitutionality of Section 5 is challenged.
Had Texas filed a lawsuit in April 2011 to have voter ID approved, and challenged the constitutionality of Section 5 in the complaint, voter ID would now be in place in Texas. Instead, it is unlikely to be effective even by November 2012 – unless Texas challenges the constitutionality of Section 5. Then approval will come faster.
We will soon learn if Texas is all hat and no cattle. A lawsuit to obtain approval of voter ID that challenges the unconstitutional action of Eric Holder will unleash a stampede. Anything else is a whole lot of nothing.
Yep, AG Abbott, the ball is in your court.
He laid down for the Fed Gov’t on the robosigning settlement and I expect he will do the same on Section 5.
I am so tired of state politicians ceding authority to Washington.
They kick the can down the road to people like Eric Holder and Harry Reid.
It’s disgusting.
Does this rot from Rick Perry down? Well, change those bumper stickers.
Mess with Texas.
I hope Texas hangs in there. I’m sure the Democrats are trying to blackmail Texans by saying that if they go for voter I.D.’s, Repbulicans can kiss the hispanic vote “good-bye.” Bunk. The hispanics who are here illegally are not supposed to be voting anyway (unless they were registered by ACORN, then they vote as many times as they want, which is the whole point of a photo I.D.). And the hispanics who are here LEGALLY probably don’t care since they already have photo I.D. Time for Texans to stand tall against Holder and his blackmailing thugs.
Libertyship, you said a mouthful.
Nothing more needs to be added.
don’t forget that Perry and Bush were for amnesty in disguise. One needs to ask are many of the republicans actually in concert with the white house on immigration issues.
the republican establishment is NOT conservative and NO longer siding with the majority of AMERICANS.
The illegal alien on a well-made fake ID (from a friend at the DMV) wouldnt care either.
Us folks north of the Red, in The Indi’n Nation, may have to withdraw the honorary title of Baja Oklahoma for that area, which used to be such an excellent source of free cattle abd horses for Comanche and Kiowa raiders. Did they forget the Alamo? We may start calling that area Chihuahua del Norte. Coaches at OU and OSU are now wondering if they should continue raiding Texas high schools for football players. Some are suggesting France as an alternative.
Well, football players everywhere are wearing spandex these days. As a Texas native, fully aware of why the baja doesn’t slide into the Gulfo de Mejico… that was funny.
Allez les burnt orange.
\m/
Why would an Indian Nation use a Spanish adjective in your honorary title? OK does have the best standard license plate (the Indian Arrow statue) in the nation, though.
We have a long history of multi-culturalism in Sooner Land. Before God created Texans He put Mexicans in Chihuahua who had cattle and horses. Our Indi’ns learned some of that lingo from captives, I mean pretty Mexican girls out for adventure.
It is not just a challenge of the Federal Government that needs to occur. This requires open disobedience and rejection. The States should enforce their laws in spite of Federal edicts and recognize nothing but a SCOTUS decision on the matter.
What makes the supremes so unfallible? Remember Kelo? That flew directly in the face of the Bill of Rights and our right to property ownership. Plus, the supremes have twisted the commerce clause to allow the fed to do anything it wants.
But I do like your idea of open disobedience. Just add the supreme rulings to your list and only follow the constitution.
I agree about ignoring the DOJ’s unConstitutional decision. However, I fear pre-planned, organized violence from the Left during the election in the form of the Black Panthers, UN observers that the NAACP has requested be a presence at our elections, Unions which have already proclaimed themselves O’s “marching army,” and so on. Where will we be if O declared martial law and suspended elections in battleground states–an intended double entendre.
Voter fraud will not be allowed to happen anymore in this country. A simple photo ID is required to do many things in this country, and to vote legally, is one of them.
The problem is that Texas, like many other red states, has it’s blue (liberal) enclaves – Dallas, Houston and (unfortunately) Austin. The rest of us don’t much care for ‘em.
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss162/RustyBill/humor/Austin_Liberal_Park.jpg
Sadly, San Antonio has to be included in that list. The mayor of San Antonio and his mother have openly denounced the defenders of the Alamo and spent thousands re-naming a street for their favorite Marxist leader, Caesar Chavez. True, red-blooded Texans need to take note that they are slowly losing their state to the koolaid drinkers.
F the DOJ! How about some of us states unite! as in United States?
Ask yourself one question: Does the GOP want to eliminate Voter Fraud or does it want the issue of Voter Fraud?
Then ask yourself another: Does the GOP want to repeal ObamaCare or does it want the issue of repealing ObamaCare?
Then another: Does the GOP want a coherent energy policy or does it want the issue of a coherent energy policy?
And: Does the GOP want sound fiscal policy or does it want the issue of a sound fiscal policy?
You can either solve the problems or use them to rally voters to your banner. If you solve the problem then you’ll need new issues and your staff spent days 30 years ago creating index cards so you could inform the voters of your intentions. Is it really efficient to create new index cards and learn new talking points?
In the private sector your judged on what you do, in the public sector you’re judged on what you say you’ll do.
I would agree. Does the DNC want to eliminate voter suppression or are they running on the IDEA of “war on minorities”?
Does the DNC want to create a functioning more cost effective healthcare system, or are they simply creating a platform of healthcare “reform”?
Is the GOP really waging a “war on women” or is the DNC creating a platform of “protecting women’s rights”?
Is the Obama administration committed to sunlight in government or was he just campaigning on a platform of transparency? (Actually that question has already been answered, even lately in the MSM.)
I live in Texas and think there are alot more liberals here than people think. In my mind government leadership as a whole here in Texas is on a par with the rest of the country, sub par.
Well, I am a Texan living in the supposedly liberal enclave of Houston. Sure, the Chronicle is liberal-left; we have a nutcase representing one district downtown (Sheila Jackson Lee), the black population will vote Democrat but I don’t consider them liberal in other ways (mostly good Christian people), Hispanics ditto.
Social programs are popular with the unproductive class.
Ain’t there at least one more nut-case representing part of Houston? What’s that gentleman’s name who was asking the CNO whether movin’ all them boats and marines from Okinawa to Guam wasn’t gonna capsize Guam??
Hank Johnson, Democrat out of Georgia.
Please watch the entire video….it is ALMOST unbelievable!
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=HcBaSP31Be8&vg=medium
If Texas is afraid of a court-room dust-up with the DOJ, when precedent is on their side (Holder, it seems to me, is clearly bluffing), what can we expect from them on broader Tenth Amendment confrontations? Not much, I fear.
Great article and right on the mark.
Folks,
We’re talking Texas here. For those of you who don’t live here (yet), what the bloody hell are you waiting for? Remember to fill up your tank, your faith in Texas and Texans and your hunger for the good fight when you cross the state line.
If you think Texas is going to shirk from a fight with Eric Holder, I have two words for you: Rick Perry.
Bring. It.
Just like he stood up to the TSA?
If you are trying to indicate that Perry had any control over the legislature’s caving to the TSA, you are as full of it as a Christmas goose. Once Perry put the bill back into the special session, it was up to the legislature to pass it.
If you want to blame anyone, blame David Dewhurst (RINO) who teamed up with Joe Strauss (RINO) to table the bill. The U.S. Attorney’s office managed to scare the Dems in Austin into thinking the TSA could shut down our airports by ceasing air travel over Texas. Just one more reason for me to support Ted Cruz over Dewhurst.
Will Someone Please Check My ID? By Rory Cooper September 14, 2010
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/246498/will-someone-please-check-my-id-rory-cooper
Look, we all know that dying does not denounce ones citizenship. After all I’d be willing to bet that some ghost hunter somewhere has an unseen entity who needs an ADA to help them ghost-vote from the great beyond. We have to be fair here, a ghost does not have the ability to provide a drivers liscense and if they could, how would we be able to prove that the ghost id is actually valid? The AG is only thinking about the ones who have no voice.
Which makes the dead the oft-mentioned “Silent Majority” and who wouldn’t want the vote of the “Silent Majority”?
Meh. This analysis is completely off and is based on one non-Texan author’s hunch about what he thinks Texas Governor, Attorney General, etc. will do?
Texas’ leaders on this issue are going to fight this and win like they’ve done on about a dozen other issues in the courts since Obama took office.
The Texas Governor has nothing to do with this issue. John Texan, you are mistaken if you think there is fight, because Texas has only gone 70% so far on the Voting Rights Act Section 5 issues. As I made plain in my piece, sources informed me that some officals are afraid that if they fight too hard and challenge Section 5, it will be used against them in future political campaigns. All you need to do is look at the Texas complaint and how it tip-toes around the constitutional issue in the redistricting case while other states were putting up a 100% fight, like Florida, Arizona and Georgia.
It never ceases to amaze me the amount of bravado that comes out of the Lone Star state about how tough Texas is, and it saddens me to know reality doesn’t match the rhetoric all the time.
Mr. Adams you are absolutely right and that goes for most of us. We cling to our God and guns but we really do not want to keep up the fight on principle for fear of yet another government intervention. I do not mean to fight as pick up a gun and fight, I mean stand up and use the Constitution as it was intended and stand on the law before they change them all. Look at all the people who are standing behind those states that actually go to court to challenge these rediculous charges by the administration. If the ones that have the power to stand up really do it, the people will follow them. We are the ones they have been waiting for…
Sly Fox,
No good person really likes to fight, that is why liberals are so calculatingly pushy…
Like the obnoxious party guest, they are betting on some uncomfortable lip biting and grumbling among the others, but always expect “accommodation” to their rudeness.
They push and play and tweak and annoy because they are certain of one important thing: That is, that no good person one wants to BE the one to stand up, in the middle of the party, and shout “take back what you said this instant, or I’ll punch you in the nose”. And then follow through.
They depend on YOU looking out of line, of over reacting to their “joke”, or daring to impugn their motives as they leer and insult your wife…you, the thin skinned and boorish, you the hot-head, YOU have “ruined the party” with your intolerance, your unreasonably…not they.
It is the game they’ve played all my life…in the media, in politics, between “The Races” and with “Islamophobia”…always pitting good people of fair character against their duplicitousness, the honest and the truthful against their cynical and disingenuous gamesmanship.
They lie, but have deniability. You CALL them liars, but must produce the impossible….incontrovertable physical evidence of what is INSIDE their hearts, which no one honestly can. They claim virtue, you claim evil, and thus all the ugliness of the topic must come from your mouth.
To factually and constitutionally stand up to Holder Obama and Company, means nothing short of calling them racists, radicals, communists, and statists. Out and out full-on anti-American Traitors. They will force YOU to make that call, to make THAT your argument….while they gasp and tisk with hands in the air, looking to the sympathetic media with their ” dude, can you BELIEVE this guy” expressions of hurt and indignation.
And just as the annoyed and offended party guest helplessly shakes his head at the AUDACITY of this tool, they smirk with the expectation of getting their way, or making YOU look bad for calling them out.
“..can we ever get away from the hate, and finally do the Peoples Work?” will be their response.
Very few indeed wish to be caught in such no-win public relations nighmare.
This is their model of advancement and control.
And its frighteningly effective.
Typo:
“your unreasonably…not they”
should be
“your unreasonability, not theirs”.
Root ’83, you are right but the problem with them is that we are seeing now that after all there self-righteousness and rhetoric Americans see no progress from those that say they are doing the “peoples work”. After all is said and done no one is getting what they were promised. This alone weakens their argument. People are waking up and that is what they are afraid of. We see that only those that claim virtue are reaping the benefits while we toile and worry. When we see Chu not owning a car but has his own personal chaufer we know we have been had. The light is sanitizing their arguments and showing all of us who and what they really are. In the end, we the people are the one’s they are afraid of. Let us not forget that.
Apparently, nothing short of secession will satisfy Mr Adams.
Let’s keep the conversation credible. The last time a crowd of hotheads shot off about secession, creeks ran red, economic devastation roared through hundreds of miles and a generation of invalids were created.
A credible analysis reveals that there is a great deal of turf between the status quo and secession. On the status-quo side of that turf is a lawsuit in federal court to have voter ID approved that simultaneously challenges Section 5′s application to the Texas Voter ID as unconstitutional. That’s a far cry from secession, and I suspect you know it.
From a state official’s perspective, the credible conversation is how much damage are you prepared to have done to your state? The thugs in Comrade Obama’s Junta are prepared to unleash Hell on states that challenge their usurpations. Frankly, if I were thinking about challenging the fundamental Constitutionality of any part of the VRA, especially as a Republican from a Southern state or any state, like mine, with a lot of federal Indians, I’d want some true friends in other states.
It is well to remember that in that other irrepressible conflict, there were successful attempts to reconcile for forty years before there arose actual conflict and lots of people on both sides didn’t go all in until some idiots in Charleston just couldn’t resist that lanyard. You know, when a firebrand like Robert Toombs thinks you’ve made a mistake, you’ve probably made a mistake.
I think the calculus in Texas has to be how many comparisons to Orville Faubus, George Wallace, and Lester Maddox the Republican government can stand in an election year and still be governing after that election. Face it; the Civil Rights Movement laid out state sovereignty and it has yet to do more than rise to one knee. I can think of a bazillion things I’d like to challenge on 10th Am. or other Constitutional grounds. In my field, challenging the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to the core functions of a government would save the states tens of billions a year and eliminate the multitudes of $100K – $150K/yr. cops and firemen greasing each others’ skids with overtime assignments. Here it is the VRA, a piece of legislation long past its sell by date. But when your state has huge constituencies dependent on federal transfer payments and Comrade Obama can throw Granny off the cliff and blame it on you whenever he chooses, you have to carefully choose your battles and you don’t want to be alone. Now that’s the good reason to be reticent, but there are also plenty of Republican officeholders who are just plain chickensh*ts. I don’t know which we’re dealing with here.
OK, so my snarky hyperbole was poorly received. I take it back.
I happen to agree with you that the Texas AG’s office blew it. Sadly, not every R in Texas Government has balls of steel and a clear grasp of the right agenda. We’re purging the nimrods as fast as we can (can you hear me calling your name, Mr Dewhurst?)
So here we in Texas are, in a full-out open range war with the Obama White House. You do know that the have cut off federal funding for women’s health care. All because we won’t continue to saddle up Planned Parenthood.
I promise you we will go to the mat over Voter ID. Yes, we should have taken your advice. But to the mat we will go.
Please keep your wisdom flowing … towards the Alamo.
Abbott has been rumored to be considering a run for governor in 2014, which if Perry opts to seek a new term would put the two against each other in the Republican primary. Perry won in 2010 over Hutchison by moving to make sure he got to her right as early as the 2008 election cycle, via both his statements and painting her as a week Washington RINO.
Abbott’s 1,400 miles from D.C., so that tactic wouldn’t work, but he can go after the AG as being weak/ineffective in his job if he allows Justice to intimidate him on the Voter ID issue (Abbott’s deal with Texas MALDEF on the state redistricting plan sparked grumbles on both sides, but how that will affect him politically in the party won’t be known until the results of the elections in the four new congressional districts and the handful of swing districts in the state play out in November. Expectations are a 2-2 spilt between the GOP and Democrats, but if the Dems were to go 3-for-4 and Abbott caved on Voter ID, he’d really be in a bad spot as far as the ’14 primary season goes).
It’s conventional wisdom that the most effective way to confront a bully is to stand up to him. Holder and Obama are bullies on the race issue. They need to be confronted at every turn. Carry the fight to them, boys. They can’t take the heat.
Greg Abbott: all talk.
Here in Houston, it plainly states that picture I.D. is required to vote. We supplied same. This is for early voting. That said, we are doing something just a bit different—-ALL OVER THE STATE:
We have citizen teams from El Paso to the Sabin River, from Dalhart to Brownsville and everything in between. We will be ferreting out voter fraud. Namely we will be investigating to see if, as in Chicago, dead people are voting, people are voting early and often,whether or not illegals are voting, and whether or not certain voter applications can be proven fake.
When found, there is hell to pay for the violators. Frankly, we are at war with the BHOandGANGSTERS and especially their lackeys, the DOJ. If voter I.D. gets unblocked, fine. If not, we have civilian remedies, supported by Texas officialdom.
Sounds like a lot of work? So what. Do you want honest elections are not?
Greg Abbott: Lap Dog.
JIm Mattox: Attack Dog.
Do Republicans have the nerve to get themselves a Mattox?
It’s not called the stupid party for nothing.
Are you talking about the same Greg Abbott that has been prosecuting voter fraud cases that were refused by the DoJ? That same Greg Abbott? Or the same Greg Abbott that won the 10 Commandment case? Or the same Greg Abbott that prosecutes Social Security/Medicare fraud that the DoJ refuses to take on? Or the same Greg Abbott that sued the EPA?
Nice try Zane. You’ll note I never mentioned Greg Abbott.
Mr. Adams, my response was to David Rodgers, not you. Check the tread progression.
I’m talking about the same Greg Abbott who is RIGHT NOW defending Texas full-ride scholarships to illegal aliens in violation of federal law.
I’m talking about the same Greg Abbott who is RIGHT NOW defending Texas race preferences in college admissions.
When the rubber hits the road, Greg Abbott turns tail. EVERY TIME.
David Rodgers, there is no such thing as a “free ride” for the children of illegals in the State of Texas. They are given in-state tuition rates IF they have been in a Texas high school for 3+ years and have graduated. In order to enter a state university, like UT, they must also be in the top 10% of their graduating class.
And race-based admissions have nothing to do with the office of the Attorney General. Those decisions are made by the university itself. University of Texas, Austin, uses an “affirative action” based admission, Texas A & M, the other premier state university, does not.
Now, go troll your falsehoods somewhere else.
Just as ID is required by banks when a check is cashed, so should it be required in polls before anyone is allowed to vote. Something this basic should be voted on by a national referendum.
What happened to to push back?
Do you as Texans stand for principle of just talk. If principles push on your politicians to do the right thing. Talk is cheap, actions let everyone know where you stand.
Where valid ID’s are required (Hint: Not when voting) FEBRUARY 21, 2012
http://www.mrconservative.com/2012/02/2072-where-valid-ids-are-required-hint-not-when-voting/
States Rights. Texas et al. need to stick up for them. I fear we are headed for a 2nd Civil War, and for the same reason, which was really States’ Rights and not the abolition of slavery. The federal government has no right to interfere with states’ laws concerning photo voter, immigration, etc. As the unindicted Philly Black Panther crowed, we’re going to find out what it’s like to be ruled by 2 black men. I will add racist black men to that statement–an Allen West would have been better than any of the white mealy mouths we’ve had recently. Obama and Holder are trampling States’ Rights and the Constitution and are working hand-in-hand with Communists and One Worlders. They control more than 2/3 of our government, and the press is silent on these outrages. It’s really hard to see any peaceful way out.
“It’s really hard to see any peaceful way out”
I just hope it happens while I’m still young enough to be a MEAN old man!
It will be soon–this fall.
Texas should proceed and arrest anyone who causes trouble at a polling place.
In Nov. 2010 when the New Black Panthers began threatening the legal True the Vote poll watchers in Sheila Jackson Lee’s precinct, the police told the poll watchers to leave…not the Panthers.
Greg Abbott:
I’m suing Eric Holder for refusing to approve Texas’ Voter ID law. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled Voter ID constitutional in other states. Texas should have it too. “Like” this if you agree.
http://www.facebook.com/TexansForAbbott
This is actually wrong. The Supreme Court did NOT rule voter ID constitutional per se. It ruled that Indiana’s law was not UNconstitutional per se. And that was a Section 2 case, not a Section 5 case. In a section 2 case, the plaintiff has the burden of proof. In a section 5 submission/case, the STATE has the burden of proof. You are comparing totally different things.
March 14, 2012
Attorney General Greg Abbott on Wednesday made a direct constitutional challenge to a piece of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, which singles out Texas and several other states.
snip….
Richard Hasen, an elections law professor at the University of California, Irvine, said Abbott’s move could represent a dramatic shift in election law for Texas and all other states in the country. “That ups the ante,” he said.
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/state-tries-to-force-challenge-of-u-s-2238744.html
Too bad Holder doesn’t care as much as our border agents being killed on the border as he does allowing illegals and dead people to vote.
Which of the HUNDREDS of Texas officials specifically “don’t want to go all-in against the Holder DOJ because they are afraid – afraid of the political risk,” Christian? Name names, partner.
As a Texan, I can tell you that most of the state is made up of reasonable people who believe that it is ridiculous to stand in line to vote and not have to prove you are who you claim to be. I have stood in line to vote outside the Carrollton, Texas library – in the last election that Bush remained in the White House – and saw vans unloading what looked to me like mentally challenged and homeless people off to vote. I personally do NOT like seeing voter fraud practiced and want every single person who casts a vote in ANY of our elections to prove who they are at the voting site.
Suggest you read the follow up to the story. Obviously not Greg Abbott.
Sweet.