Argle Bargle, Argle Bargle
Bush-Appointed Judge Slams Decision Striking Voting Rights Act Courts Reasoning Was Made Up
Although the conservatives decision in Shelby County v. Holder never actually identifies the legal standard of review that led them to strike down the heart of Americas voting rights law, the opinion rests in large part on the fact that the Voting Rights Act applies some of its requirements only to some States, in what the Court labels as a dramatic departure from the principle that all States enjoy equal sovereignty.
As McConnell explains, however, [t]heres no requirement in the Constitution to treat all states the same, adding that t might be an attractive principle, but it doesnt seem to be in the Constitution.
Judge McConnell is, of course, correct. The Fifteenth Amendment provides that [t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and it gives Congress power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. One searches the Constitution in vain for language forbidding the Voting Rights Act application of some of its strongest medicine to jurisdictions judged to have the worst record of voter suppression.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/07/08/2262691/bush-appointed-judge-slams-decision-striking-voting-rights-act-courts-reasoning-was-made-up/