Will the Supreme Court Abandon Voters?

The Supreme Court heard arguments related to voter rights and Voter ID laws, last week.

The Law in Indiana is shown to disenfranchise large numbers of voters that are currently without driver’s license. This is particularly significant to poor and minority voters because many don’t have driver’s licenses and I’d be willing to bet that their vehicle ownership is much lower than any other class or white counterparts. This is a big deal for a number of reasons, but the less obvious reason is that America and the judicial system have joined forces to deny rights to disenfranchised people in America that it once defended without hesitation.

Shaking Up The Supreme Court

Many experts and pundits, including myself, were quick to voice opposition to the latest shakeup of the Supreme Court. It wasn’t a matter of qualification, which is typically the reason for such outrage. Instead, the reason for the anger had to do with the polarization of politics, government and now our judicial system. With the additions of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Alito, this shift in the court’s thinking was expected.

The cries of liberal and progressive activists throughout the world have been heard over the months. However, it doesn’t stop at liberal America. Libertarians that were once at the heart of the Republican party have been ostracized and laughed at by the new wave of conservative heroes that have taken over the party and rattled American leadership.

Here’s an excerpt from a NY Times Op-ed article on “Abandoning the Rights of Voters“:

As long as there have been elections, there have been attempts to keep eligible people from voting. States and localities adopted poll taxes, literacy tests, “white primaries,” “malapportionment” — drawing district lines to give a small number of rural voters the same representation as a large number of urban voters — and restrictions on student voting. In recent decades, the Supreme Court has rejected all of them.

Until now.

Manipulating Outcomes: Diluting the Votes

Texas

Only a few years ago, I started to recognize this trend myself. In Texas, redistricting is a hot issue and it is often the GOP that is leading the way in attempting to disenfranchise voters and force the state to permanently swing towards Republicans. It seems an odd strategy to me, considering that Texas is already a strong conservative State and doesn’t look to become liberal any time soon.

California

California is another example of a State that Republican special interest groups are targeting. If you haven’t heard, there is an effort to change the state from the traditional electoral system (Winner-takes-all) to a popular kind of system that would dish out electoral votes based on the proportion of votes each party earns. California presents an interesting case because of the amount of electoral votes it carries. By splitting up the vote and diluting the Democratic stronghold in California, it could help ensure that the Presidency remains in the hands of Republicans forever.

Historically, as the NY Times piece argued, the Supreme Court has been in favor of encouraging strong democratic ideals:

The court understood that the Constitution guaranteed a robust form of democracy and saw its clear value for the nation. During the tumultuous late-1960s, Chief Justice Earl Warren declared that most of the country’s problems could be solved through the political process if everyone “has the opportunity to participate on equal terms with everyone else and can share in electing representatives who will be representative of the entire community and not of some special interest.”

In recent years, however, with a conservative majority in place, the court has become increasingly hostile to voters. During the oral arguments in the Bush v. Gore case in 2000, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor showed disdain for voters who had trouble with Florida’s disastrous punch-card ballots. After insisting that the directions “couldn’t be clearer,” she suggested that the court ignore the ballots of voters who had failed to master the intricacies. That is precisely what it did, by a 5-4 vote.

What is with Republicans and Voting, why is this a “Conservative” problem?

Haven’t Democrats equally tried to disenfranchise Republican voters in the past? If the answer is No, then why not? Is this just a matter of one party deciding that the ends justify the means? How is it that our legal system is getting involved in this mess? Is this a political question that the courts need to stay away from? Will the Supreme Court facilitate the GOP’s desire for dominance at the top of American leadership? More importantly, is this a true conspiracy unfolding before our very eyes or is this another case of liberals overreacting because this time they are on the outside looking in?

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