Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[General_Failure]

The Lieutenant Governor said the vote came too late to pass.

[Rome]

That disgusting display in Texas by GOP thugs is truly sickening.   I'm telling you... violence is coming.

[Rome]

"At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over her male colleagues?"

This should be a rallying cry for not just females but the powerless in general.  What a phenomenal quote.

[ice grillin you]

Oh, and Clarence Thomas is a disgrace.  If it weren't for the civil rights movement in the 50's and 60's he'd be a farging dishwasher instead of a SCJ.  He turned his back on millions of his own race with this vote.  Hell, I can see clowns like Alito & Scalia voting it down, but Thomas?  What an absolutely disgusting human being.

he is as despicable a person as youll ever come across....just a vile human being...the kind of skank who uses every avenue open to him to get what he wants then closes the door behind him so no one else can do the same...enemy of civil rights decided that afirmitive action had served its purpose about 30 seconds aftrer he realized he gotten all he could out of it...and he knowingly allowed his race to be used to set back the struggle for racial equality...hes scalias lapdog his housepet and frankly his "boy"

[ice grillin you]

Just two hours after the Supreme Court reasoned that discrimination is not rampant enough in Southern states to warrant restrictions under the Voting Rights Act, Texas is already advancing a voter ID law and a redistricting map blocked last year for discriminating against black and Latino residents. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a statement declaring that both measures may go into effect immediately, now that there is no law stopping them from discriminating against minorities.

In 2012, the Justice Department blocked these measures under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Federal courts agreed that both the strict voter ID law and the redistricting map would disproportionately target the state's fast-growing minority communities. Still, Texas filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court over the Voting Rights Act case complaining that the DOJ had used "abusive and heavy-handed tactics" to thwart the state's attempts at voter suppression.

In the case of the new electoral map, a panel of federal judges found that "substantial surgery" was done to predominantly black districts, cutting off representatives' offices from their strongest fundraising bases. Meanwhile, white Congress members' districts were either preserved or "redrawn to include particular country clubs and, in one case, the school belonging to the incumbent's grandchildren." The new map was also drawn in secret by white Republican representatives, without notifying their black and Latino peers. After the court blocked the map, the legislature approved small changes to appease Democratic lawmakers last week. Now that they are free to use the old maps, however, Gov. Rick Perry (R) could simply veto the new plan and use the more discriminatory maps.

The strict photo ID requirement blocked by the DOJ and a federal court would require Texans to show one of a very narrow list of acceptable photo IDs. Expired gun licenses from other states are considered valid, but Social Security cards and student IDs are not. If voters do not have an ID — as many minorities, seniors, and poor people do not — they must travel at their own expense, produce their birth certificate, and in many cases pay a fee to get an ID.

Thanks to the Supreme Court, the DOJ no longer has any power to block these laws, even with the backing of federal judges who found blatant discrimination. Under the remaining sections of the Voting Rights Act, individuals may sue to kill these measures, but only after they have gone into effect and disenfranchised countless Texans of color.

According to the 2010 Census, non-Hispanic whites have become a minority in Texas, down from 52.4 percent to 45.3 percent of the population. Latinos have accounted for 65 percent of the state's population growth over the past decade. Projections show that the eligible voter pool will shift to roughly 44 percent white voters and 37 percent Hispanic voters by 2025. Faced with this demographic reality, conservatives have alternated between changing their messaging to appeal to Latino voters, who overwhelmingly supported Democrats in 2012, and making it harder for them to vote.

[Munson]

"We have no power under the
Constitution to invalidate this democratically adopted legislation"

Justice Scalia in today's dissent on DOMA. You know, the same guy that voted to invalidate the democratically adopted Voting Rights Act yesterday.

[rjs246]

I'm going to watch a whole lot of lesbian porn today to celebrate all of this gay love the SCOTUS is dropping on us.

[ice grillin you]

scalias butt hurts thats for sure

[Rome]

He is a truly vile human being.  Good for the Takeis though.

[Eagles_Legendz]

Oh, and Clarence Thomas is a disgrace.  If it weren't for the civil rights movement in the 50's and 60's he'd be a farging dishwasher instead of a SCJ.  He turned his back on millions of his own race with this vote.  Hell, I can see clowns like Alito & Scalia voting it down, but Thomas?  What an absolutely disgusting human being.

he is as despicable a person as youll ever come across....just a vile human being...the kind of skank who uses every avenue open to him to get what he wants then closes the door behind him so no one else can do the same...enemy of civil rights decided that afirmitive action had served its purpose about 30 seconds aftrer he realized he gotten all he could out of it...and he knowingly allowed his race to be used to set back the struggle for racial equality...hes scalias lapdog his housepet and frankly his "boy"

Not to get too far off the reservation here but I worked for a judge the first half of the summer and Thomas has repeatedly over the years off the record because he doesn't want press attention shown up to work for week long stretches building houses for Habitat in poor urban communities.

[Eagles_Legendz]

"We have no power under the
Constitution to invalidate this democratically adopted legislation"

Justice Scalia in today's dissent on DOMA. You know, the same guy that voted to invalidate the democratically adopted Voting Rights Act yesterday.

Scalia is a complete hypocrite.  He cherrypicks how strong his convictions are depending on the issues he likes or dislikes.

I usually disagree with Thomas' holdings but he's at least consistent with his beliefs regardless of the topic.  Example: read about Gonzales v Raich.   That case alone shows why I have infinitely more respect for Thomas than Scalia.   Scalia's principles change when it's convenient.  I don't much like Thomas' politics but he's consistent in limited government and states rights even with stuff like drugs.

[ice grillin you]

Oh, and Clarence Thomas is a disgrace.  If it weren't for the civil rights movement in the 50's and 60's he'd be a farging dishwasher instead of a SCJ.  He turned his back on millions of his own race with this vote.  Hell, I can see clowns like Alito & Scalia voting it down, but Thomas?  What an absolutely disgusting human being.

he is as despicable a person as youll ever come across....just a vile human being...the kind of skank who uses every avenue open to him to get what he wants then closes the door behind him so no one else can do the same...enemy of civil rights decided that afirmitive action had served its purpose about 30 seconds aftrer he realized he gotten all he could out of it...and he knowingly allowed his race to be used to set back the struggle for racial equality...hes scalias lapdog his housepet and frankly his "boy"

Not to get too far off the reservation here but I worked for a judge the first half of the summer and Thomas has repeatedly over the years off the record because he doesn't want press attention shown up to work for week long stretches building houses for Habitat in poor urban communities.

and im sure dick cheney has given to charity before...doesnt make him any less of a terrible person

if all it took was a couple good deeds there would be no bad people in the world

theres a special place in hell for people who build houses for the urban poor while he is voting their interests away....in the same class of people as the closeted republican gay who is voting against gay marriage or adoption

[Eagles_Legendz]

The important part of the holding today was the equal protection aspect.

O'Connor tried to sell equal protection for sexual orientation in Lawrence v Texas and it didn't work.  I always thought that was the most logical step for protecting gay rights as opposed to substantive due process.  I think that broad a holding opens the floodgates for the gay rights movement now.

[Rome]

The equal protection clause should provide just that.

It doesn't.   

[Eagles_Legendz]

The equal protection clause should provide just that.

It doesn't.

The point of it was to provide protection for classes of citizens who were historically discriminated against but whom deserve equal protection (originally African-Americans).

Problem is the court requires a designation that you're part of a class that deserves that protection, or else, for example, you could have polygamists or people who are incestuous bringing challenges saying they're a discriminated class and deserve equal protection of the law in order to get married (no, I'm not equating those groups to sexual orientation, just saying when equal protection is used the way it is).

Courts have never officially designated sexual orientation as a class worthy of increased protection, though if you read btwn the lines of past cases they basically have without stating it.   Gender discrimination/racial discrimination etc are afforded higher levels of protection.   Anyway, without getting too legalese, the holding today seems to finally push sex orientation towards that grouping which means its just a matter of time before the whole boulder comes off the mountain and making gay marriage illegal is struck down from the courts universally.