Two important developments this morning. First: Attorney General Eric Holder will announce that the Justice Department will initiate broad nationwide attacks on election integrity measures like Voter ID using the remaining portions of the Voting Rights Act. Last month, the Supreme Court struck down the 1965 triggers that forced 15 states to submit election law changes to Washington D.C. for federal approval.
Second: despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Justice Department announced it will try to recapture Texas under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act by showing the state continues to act with a racially discriminatory intent when passing voting laws.
Some of Holder’s reaction is because dozens of highly paid federal employees are now idled. James Buchanan won the Nobel Prize in economics by explaining Holder’s actions as public choice theory — bureaucrats announce policies to help bureaucrats, even if disguised as an act inspired by a public purpose.
For the last few weeks, Voting Section employees have taken extended coffee breaks, and even more extended lunches. But there was hope — outgoing Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez referred to the state of Louisiana as the “full employment for Voting Section lawyers state.”
That means Governor Bobby Jindal can expect more targeting by the DOJ Voting Section.
But this announcement is all about the midterm elections. Obama wants the House back, and the Justice Department is again being turned into a political weapon using the cloak of civil rights. This has become the new civil rights model. Because Democratic interests are so perfectly aligned with the civil rights establishment — in no small measure because of extreme bloc voting by American blacks — the DOJ is now an arm of the DNC.
Will states have the competence and ability to withstand Holder’s attack? There are ways. Whether they will use them remains to be seen.
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