BRAD BLOG: Bush Administration Guts 40 Year Old 'Voting Rights Act'!

Bush Administration Guts 40 Year Old 'Voting Rights Act'
DoJ Staff Attorneys Now Barred From Offering Opinions in VRA Cases After WaPo Exposed Political Appointees Overruled Civil Rights Division Staffers

The beloved 40 year-old Voting Right Acts, implemented by Lyndon B. Johnson after violence and death to Voting Rights activists in Selma, Alabama in 1965 has been all but gutted by the George W. Bush administration. The VRA celebrated it's 40th anniversary this summer, even as Bush's Department of Justice was destroying one of its most important measures by covert political caveat.

That gutting now appears to be becoming a still greater threat to our democracy as it is being institutionalized by recent policy changes which bar career Voting Rights staffers and attorneys in the DoJ from offering opinions on new laws that fall under the jurisdication of the VRA.

Two recent reports by Dan Eggen of the Washington Post revealed that Bush political appointees in the DoJ has overruled the recommendations of career staffers and attorneys in the Voting Rights division tasked with determining the legality of two separate laws sent to the department for "pre-approval" under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

In both cases, one concerning the unconstitutional Photo ID requirements in Georgia, and the other Tom DeLay's redistricting in Texas, the DoJ recommended against the new laws but were overruled by Bush appointees. And now, Eggen reports, the department is barring such opinions from being given at all!

Our democratic way of life -- and our Republic along with it -- are in very grave danger...

FULL STORY:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002137.htm

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poll numbers are going to be meaningless.

He ain't going no where as long as he does what they want him to do -bigots.

the blacks who are conservatives are letting them do this!!!

and we are not letting them do anything nor are the conservative Blacks letting them do it.


Remember that they own the world, they have ALL the power.

I do know the NAACP is working day and night to stop it from happening.

Huum, maybe Condi will help, she is conservative...NOT HAPPENING : (

for YOU! And...hey "Alberto" ...you think that Justice Department saves your soul when your fellow Latinos are kept out of jobs "over the border" in America? When that Wall across the Mexican border is built and they gun your fellow Mexicans down trying to find a decent job?

Oh...I know it doesn't matter to you....because you say: "I GOT MINE!...now you GET YOURS!? :puke:

That on the day George Bush signed the legislation that will put Rosa Park' statue in Capitol Hill, he received a standing ovation from many African-American members of Congress, because he called for a renewal of the Voting Rights Act.

Many of the members of the CBC said they were (surprisingly) caught off guard by Bush's call to renew the Voting Rights Act, and they stood and applauded him.

Well, it looks like he was talking out of both sides of his mouth.

This reminds me of how he went to place a wreath on Martin Luther King's grave for the MLK holiday, and the next day, he turned around and announced his administration's opposition to the University of Michigan's affirmative action program.

is upon being presented a portrait of MLK saying, "I can't wait to hang it."

:kick:

REAL Christians marched in Selma and go to task everyday living their life in as loving a way as possible, reaching out and helping those less fortunate and praying for peace and working for justice.

The term I think you are REALLY looking for is PHARISEE - that is someone who thinks just because they clunk their money down in the collection plate that they have bought themselves a spot in Heaven no matter what filty acts they commit behind closed doors or how many widows and children suffer so they can turn a profit.

If you know anything about Christ, HIS attitude toward most PHARISEE's was one of utter contempt. NO ONE who behaves the way this administration has ANY right to call themselves Christians. They do, but it doesn't make it true. I can say that I am 5' 2" with eyes of blue, but it doesn't change the color of my eyes or my height.

:(

If anyone wants elected, this is the topic!

about candidates, or about third parties, can we please, please secure the vote?!

:toast:

We have a lot of differnt opinions about different issues, but if our vote is not secure the rest of it is just a inaccessible dream.

Rather than playing the blame game among ourselves, let's just call the administration on the carpet for more deceiptful behavior, more raping of the constitution and more obvious disrespect for the offices they are sworn to uphold.

go blithely on. What makes people so confident that they will EVER give up power? I recommend this DU editorial:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/05/12/03_splash.html
DU editorial title (12/3): "A Splash of Cold Water"

Step by step they have dismantled the protections of democracy - this is one more of those steps.

K & R. Thanks, Brad! You really make a difference.

I even made a thread expressing how happy I was to hear that, but of course I should have known better.