ECW
06-23-2006, 08:39 AM
House Republican leaders abruptly canceled a planned vote to renew the Voting Rights Act on Wednesday after a rebellion by lawmakers who said the civil rights measure unfairly singled out Southern states and unnecessarily required ballots to be printed in foreign languages.
The reversal represented a significant embarrassment for the party leadership, which had promised a vote to extend the act, the 1965 law that is credited with ending rampant discrimination at the polls and electing black officeholders throughout the South. Early last month, House and Senate leaders of both parties gathered on the steps of the Capitol in a rare bipartisan moment to celebrate its imminent approval.
But just hours before the vote was to occur Wednesday, lawmakers critical of the bill mutinied in a closed morning meeting of House Republicans, raising sufficient objections to prompt the leadership to pull the bill indefinitely.
Several lawmakers said it was uncertain whether a majority of Republicans would back the legislation without the changes sought by critics, and under the House leadership's informal rules no bill can reach a vote without the support of a majority of the Republicans.
"A lot of it looks as if these are some old boys from the South who are trying to do away with it," said Representative Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, who said it would be unfair to keep Georgia under the confines of the law when his state has cleaned up its voting rights record. "But these old boys are trying to make it constitutional enough that it will withstand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court."
(snip)
"The fact of the matter is that you have a small group of members who have hijacked this bill, and many of these individuals represent states that have been in violation for a long time," said Nancy M. Zirkin, deputy director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "We believe these individuals do not want the Voting Rights Act reauthorized."
The Republican leadership of the House and the Senate decided earlier this year to proceed speedily with the renewal to put to rest fears that Republicans intended to let it expire next year, and to try to make political inroads with minority groups. If the act is allowed to expire, Democrats will almost certainly accuse Republicans of trying to turn the clock back on civil rights.
But Southern lawmakers, mainly from Georgia and Texas, continued to push their objections, with some suggesting the House hold off action pending a Supreme Court ruling on a Texas redistricting case.
Story (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/washington/22vote.html?ex=1308628800&en=749668ebf4de3e5c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)
It's a sad day when a small group of good old boys can hold up legislation that changed the landscape of American jurisprudence and American politics because someone in the Justice Department has to watch their state to make sure they play fair with the rules. Don't they know that the trick is to stack the DoJ with attorneys that see things their way and to make sure the political appointees get the message to approve whatever the good old boys want? Sheesh... you'd figure after almost six years this gang would have their act together on how to circumvent voting right, ya figure?
The reversal represented a significant embarrassment for the party leadership, which had promised a vote to extend the act, the 1965 law that is credited with ending rampant discrimination at the polls and electing black officeholders throughout the South. Early last month, House and Senate leaders of both parties gathered on the steps of the Capitol in a rare bipartisan moment to celebrate its imminent approval.
But just hours before the vote was to occur Wednesday, lawmakers critical of the bill mutinied in a closed morning meeting of House Republicans, raising sufficient objections to prompt the leadership to pull the bill indefinitely.
Several lawmakers said it was uncertain whether a majority of Republicans would back the legislation without the changes sought by critics, and under the House leadership's informal rules no bill can reach a vote without the support of a majority of the Republicans.
"A lot of it looks as if these are some old boys from the South who are trying to do away with it," said Representative Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, who said it would be unfair to keep Georgia under the confines of the law when his state has cleaned up its voting rights record. "But these old boys are trying to make it constitutional enough that it will withstand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court."
(snip)
"The fact of the matter is that you have a small group of members who have hijacked this bill, and many of these individuals represent states that have been in violation for a long time," said Nancy M. Zirkin, deputy director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "We believe these individuals do not want the Voting Rights Act reauthorized."
The Republican leadership of the House and the Senate decided earlier this year to proceed speedily with the renewal to put to rest fears that Republicans intended to let it expire next year, and to try to make political inroads with minority groups. If the act is allowed to expire, Democrats will almost certainly accuse Republicans of trying to turn the clock back on civil rights.
But Southern lawmakers, mainly from Georgia and Texas, continued to push their objections, with some suggesting the House hold off action pending a Supreme Court ruling on a Texas redistricting case.
Story (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/washington/22vote.html?ex=1308628800&en=749668ebf4de3e5c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)
It's a sad day when a small group of good old boys can hold up legislation that changed the landscape of American jurisprudence and American politics because someone in the Justice Department has to watch their state to make sure they play fair with the rules. Don't they know that the trick is to stack the DoJ with attorneys that see things their way and to make sure the political appointees get the message to approve whatever the good old boys want? Sheesh... you'd figure after almost six years this gang would have their act together on how to circumvent voting right, ya figure?