It's important to note that the concepts of American democracy were very much enshrined in a long line of supreme court decisions starting with baker v. Carr. While the warren court featured justices with some fairly different ideologies, it was generally the case that all different sides joined together in the concept that voting rights…
It's important to note that the concepts of American democracy were very much enshrined in a long line of supreme court decisions starting with baker v. Carr. While the warren court featured justices with some fairly different ideologies, it was generally the case that all different sides joined together in the concept that voting rights are fundamental rights.
I often hear people try to describe what democracy is in America without understanding, or referring to, these decisions by the warren court. We get discussion in media today about "state gerrymandering" without any reference to these very important and well-supported decisions of the court.
Thom has done a great job of highlighting much of the legal issues lately, which is something I find lacking in other lefty media. I often hear people try to describe what democracy is in America without understanding, or referring to these decisions by the warren court. Of course thom has done a public service by writing about these topics and the war on voting rights. This is one aspect of the movement to the right that I find to be truly breathtaking - that faith in democracy has vanished and our "friends" no longer value fair elections.
Fantastic how we can listen to tapes of oral arguments in the Supreme Court going back to the 1960s, like this case about a Texas law that might have prevented a member of the armed services from voting in Texas:
An important debate plays out here over the scope of 14th amendment. Here you can listen to Texas argue for less "scrutiny" under 14th, with various arguments that include the passage of 15th amend. - justice Harlan II is the sole dissenter here - he thought that 14th amendment doesn't apply to voting rights and he was pretty LONELY in that view..... until today's court which ALREADY seems to have overruled the principle that 14th amendment applies broadly (see eg the brynovich case on az voting laws).
It's important to note that the concepts of American democracy were very much enshrined in a long line of supreme court decisions starting with baker v. Carr. While the warren court featured justices with some fairly different ideologies, it was generally the case that all different sides joined together in the concept that voting rights are fundamental rights.
I often hear people try to describe what democracy is in America without understanding, or referring to, these decisions by the warren court. We get discussion in media today about "state gerrymandering" without any reference to these very important and well-supported decisions of the court.
Thom has done a great job of highlighting much of the legal issues lately, which is something I find lacking in other lefty media. I often hear people try to describe what democracy is in America without understanding, or referring to these decisions by the warren court. Of course thom has done a public service by writing about these topics and the war on voting rights. This is one aspect of the movement to the right that I find to be truly breathtaking - that faith in democracy has vanished and our "friends" no longer value fair elections.
Fantastic how we can listen to tapes of oral arguments in the Supreme Court going back to the 1960s, like this case about a Texas law that might have prevented a member of the armed services from voting in Texas:
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1964/82
An important debate plays out here over the scope of 14th amendment. Here you can listen to Texas argue for less "scrutiny" under 14th, with various arguments that include the passage of 15th amend. - justice Harlan II is the sole dissenter here - he thought that 14th amendment doesn't apply to voting rights and he was pretty LONELY in that view..... until today's court which ALREADY seems to have overruled the principle that 14th amendment applies broadly (see eg the brynovich case on az voting laws).