Page 14 - Preclearance News Today

Presidential election. >> well, so as we have been talking, we mentioned a little bit here what is happening in texas and you mentioned doesnt include minorities because political trends are improving for democrats so republicans are passing restrictive measures to suppress the vote and now redrawing the districts. is this the kind of ground war that democrats are going to have to fight in these battle ground states all over the country now? >> well, youre seeing that republicans know that they ...

Hea harris county where there was huge minority population growth and we didnt add any seat to reflect the growth, you see republicans trying to silence minority voters and continue to try to do that. it will be an interesting story heading into the midterms and for sure ahead of the presidential election. >> well, so as we have been talking, we mentioned a little bit here what is happening in texas and you mentioned doesnt include minorities because political trends are improving for democrats ...

There usually are, why werent there hearings. former attorney general holder has also filed a lawsuit about this so they can work together to uncover the information they need to meet this burden. >> pete, this is not the only place that redraws maps this year. any indication doj is looking anywhere else? >> we dont know that for sure. i think one of the biggest challenges here is the fact that the supreme court eight years ago, this is the first time since weve had a new census that the justice...

Challenging the texas map. i think that there are some other states where work is going on now that might involve challenges as well, states like north carolina, which has a, you know, history of having their maps challenged, too. the problem is that of course republicans really control the map-drawing process in so many of these states, especially ones that are really -- really critical. so it means that the d.o.j. is going to have to look particularly aggressively as them now. they dont have t...

Voting rights act. it was because they did not pass muster under preclearance. a lot of these lawsuits right now are challenging the whole notion of section 2. can you break that down for our audience? >> yeah, well, it used to be before supreme court case, a few years ago, that maps like this would have to get precleared by the justice department to make sure they didnt run afoul of the voting rights act. after that case, that no longer is the case. so its given free reign, basically, to the st...

It was because they did not pass muster under preclearance. a lot of these lawsuits right now are being challenging the whole notion of section two. can you break that down for our audience. >> yeah, well, it used to be before supreme court case, a few years ago, that maps like this would have to get precleared by the justice department to make sure they didnt run afoul of the voting rights act. after that case, that no longer is the case. so, its given free reign, basically to the states like t...

The senate, 421-3 in the house. so something has happened to the republican party in which they now consider voting an evil and preclearance, you know, which is designed to facilitate voting, an evil as well. >> the virginia result with republican turnout what it was, with voting rights expanded in the state, you would think in the logical fact-based world it might create some pause, but we dont live in a logical fact-based world. i want to ask you about texas. justice department is involved, ob...

Clear and simple solution to all of these problems, and that is federal intervention. >> the federal government stepped in during the civil rights era with the 1965 voting rights act. >> among other things, it prohibited states from denying a person the right to vote based on race or color. yet in 2013 the supreme court up ended a major part of that law. >> it eviscerated one of its key components, which was key clearance. the thing about preclearance is that its before they could implement a ne...

Democrats are proposing voting bills broad in scope. many see restating reclearance as the bare minimum to addressing voting rights. one bill is called the lon lewis voting rights act. >> i gave blood on this bridge. >> you gave a lot on blood on this bridge. >> i walked with him across the edmund pettus bridge, where he was beaten almost to death in a march demanding voting rights. >> why is it so important to keep coming back every year? >> it is on us to come back. this is the place that gave...

The federal level without any sort of preclearance whatsoever and theyre doing the same thing to section two. they are trying to set up a showdown so they can get section two also watered down or make it to where it really means nothing anymore. so they can do whatever it is they want to do in these things as it relates to voting rights and youre going to see states follow suit in texas as it relates to healthcare. youre going to see them push for more and more restrictive laws and healthcare. a...