“Democracy is under siege,” says Urban League annual report
The title of the Urban League’s annual “State of Black America” report puts it bluntly: UNDER SIEGE: THE PLOT TO DESTROY DEMOCRACY.
The document, Axios reports, “alleges that some lawmakers, consultants and violent extremists are plotting to ‘disenfranchise, delude, manipulate and intimidate American voters and establish a one-party rule.'” Hardly shocking at this juncture. The news is full of it.
Nevertheless, “political forces” are assaulting feverishly the voting rights of Black and Brown Americans:
Never has the fragility of our Democracy been more exposed than it is today. Fueled by “The Big Lie,” that there was mass voter fraud in the 2020 election, state legislatures are restricting voting access in districts with large populations of African Americans and other people of color. Some states are taking measures even further by actively targeting election oversight roles held by people of color.
“Political forces”? Guess who. Republican lawmakers are not even trying to hide their efforts to rig elections and suppress opponents’ votes. There is a naked power grab happening before our eyes.
How we got here: The report says former President Trump spread misinformation and sowed doubt about the 2020 presidential election, inspiring and giving cover for GOP-controlled state legislatures to pursue even more voting restrictions.
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- But it said the modern-day effort has been building since the 2008 election swept Barack Obama into the White House, and that it accelerated after the Supreme Court’s Shelby County vs. Holder decision in 2013 gutted critical provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
- State legislatures have been restricting voting access in districts with large populations of Black Americans, Latinos and Native Americans. The report uses data from the Brennan Center for Justice to make its case.
Speaking of cases, Charles Blow of the New York Times responded Monday night to the fact that former president Donald Trump could become a defendent in a Jan. 6 conspiracy case that goes to the Supreme Court. Justice Clarence Thomas shows no inclination to recuse himself from hearing such a case involving his own wife.
H.R.4766 – Supreme Court Ethics Act stands before the House now awaiting action. It would require judicial ethical standards apply to the U.S. Supreme Court, including Thomas. Those rules do not apply now. Even then, who could enforce them?
Blow summed up where “rule of law” Republicans now stand on MSNBC’s “The Last Word.”
“Liberals are still playing by the rulebook,” said Blow. “Republicans burned that rulebook a long time ago…. Democrats and liberals in general need to wake up to this idea…. This is guerrilla warfare for Republicans. It is ‘win at all costs,’ and nothing is off the table.”
Ginni Thomas said it herself in an email to White House chief Mark Meadows, “[T]here are no rules in war.”
They’ve fired on Fort Sumter. Have Democrats noticed?
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