Page 42 - Preclearance News Today

Short term killed off the core of that act. now, whether it can be revived is an open question, one well visit in a moment. first, you have to understand what the court did today. there was a lot of confusion because it was complicated on purpose. i want to just walk through it. section 5 is often referred to as the heart of the voting rights act. it requires whats known as preclearance of any changes to the way elections are run in certain parts of this country. now, what is so brilliant about ...

It done. from 06 to 2013, have we come far enough to be where we are now? >> i think the answer is obviously no. i think the real problem is, i dont think anyone around this table or any other table believes this congress will come with that map. so were right back to where we started having to fight for preclearance because theyve now opened the door to things that we had to fight last year in courts. >> does anybody around this table though think that these states are run by racist and bigots ...

We have an obligation to do it. >> because the supreme court said now theyve thrown it back to congress. its up to congress to decide. >> but the people elected us and we should be responsible and responsive and do it. >> congressman, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, sir. >> joining us jeffrey toobin and gloria borger. jeff, in terms of voting rights legislation, how much of it was dismantled today? >> its important to point out as chief roberts said in his opinion discrimination ag...

393-33. that was not easy. it had to be pulled by the floor. its not a slam dunk by any means. one of the things they love to talk about is, hey, just give us 10 to 15 years with the latino growth and northern migration. were going to make texas purple. were going to make georgia purple. were going to expand the map. what does todays ruling do to expanding the map of the democratic party and is it going to push the democratic party in trying to expand the map back a few years? >> well, thats a g...

Medicine. the patient is still sick. were going to take what made the patient do a little better until you can heal the patient totally. which in many cays is a a schizophrenic ruling as far as im concerned. >> the logic is torture that you use the success of civil rights in changing the south. and now you say let us take away that tool. let us take away the preclearance decision, which the court criticizeses, has operated efficiently. its cost effective to the states. it means that preclearance...

Asian-americans, in terms even of white voters in the middle of some big city in the north. thats a possibility too. but lets get serious about it. i think the way to approach this is for the democrats to say, look, lets move forward here. this is an opportunity to renew for the next century the spirit of the civil rights acts of the 60s. they need to seize the momentum here because -- and at the very least what theyre going to have to do is raise a whole lot of money for a whole lot of lawsuits...

Of state governors so that you create this concept of the states rights meeting with what should be done, what should have federal oversight, how should all this work. a functional washington would approach this in this manner saying we know they had problems on election day. they were too many lines. people waited too long. now they have been ordered to rewrite how the map works when it comes to preclearance. a pucksal washington would look at this in a big way and say this is an opportunity to...

Gop came in 2010, and can democrats back this with the grassroots effort in the presidential race? >> you can call it voter suppression. you can call it grassroots mobilization. whats basically going to happen is its going to be a free for all in those states, especially those states where preclearance was required. you showed the map a few seconds ago. in my view of the big picture of this, which i also talked about in "the huff post" piece, this is kind of the last gasp or the last mile, if yo...

Make decisions on how to conduction the election, what they put on the ballot. how long early voting was, things like that. this was all part of the conversation that reverend al was referring to. the question is, does the president use this as an opportunity? hes going to have to own this. hes going to have to drive this. its not going to come from congress. inertia is what, particularly some republicans, who believe this should be left to the state. there shouldnt be the federal government. so...

Out of the game here. >> well, nobody is completely out of the game. part of the voeting rights act still intact gives anybody the right to sue if they they a sit or local government is discriminating at the polls. the problem with that is it looks to actions after theyve already happened. the power of preclearance was forbidding a state to make a change unless it could persuade the courts or the justice department that it wouldnt have the effect of being detrimental to minority voting. now your...