NEW POLL ON STATE OF SCOTUS | A Win For Ballot Integrity | Or A Voter Suppression Scheme
June 12, 2018
POLL DU JOUR
|Today Fix the Court shared the results of a wide-ranging poll that found SCOTUS remains popular with most Americans. However, it also found that most Americans overwhelmingly favor “fixes” like permitting broadcast and stronger rules on ethics, recusals and stock ownership. The poll also suggests the public remains largely disengaged on the subject of the Supreme Court (But not you! Go you for being a SCOTUSDaily reader!). Only 12% of respondents said they follow SCOTUS “very closely” and a significant portion, ranging from 33% to 55% depending on the justice, say they are undecided about the justices’ job performances. Check out the full readout here.
ICYMI
|The Supreme Court yesterday handed down a decision that gave the green light to the way some states maintain their voter registration rolls. Justices ruled that Ohio’s practice of voter purging — which allows the state to strike voters from the registration rolls if they fail to return a mailed address confirmation form, and don’t vote for another four years — does not violate federal law. NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports on the 5-4 ruling which was received by “predictably angry” voting-rights advocates.
A WIN FOR BALLOT INTEGRITY
|“Americans should applaud Monday’s Supreme Court decision upholding Ohio’s law for keeping voting lists accurate. Voting is a sacred right for people in a free society. The National Voter Registration Act requires states to implement voter registration systems to protect that right. Ohio is serious about its duty to ensure accurate registrations. Monday’s decision allows other states to follow Ohio’s lead.” That’s Pete Hutchison opining in USA Today that the SCOTUS ruling allows for the necessary vigilance of voter accuracy in this “unprecedented era of mobility.”
DOWN WITH DEMOCRATS
|Jeffrey Toobin remarks in The New Yorker that the Supreme Court’s decision in the Ohio voter purging case is going to make it harder for Democrats to vote in this country. He says that although it might be easy to read JUSTICE ALITO’S opinion and “be lulled by the legalese into missing what’s really at stake in the case,” one must overcome. He writes, “Lawmakers in Republican-controlled states will see the Husted decision as an invitation, hydraulic in its force, to launch even more invasive purges of disfavored voters. It’s an invitation that many are likely to accept.”
GONE FISHING
|John Eligon writes in The New York Times about the Supreme Court’s decision this week to let stand a lower court’s order that Washington state make repairs to roads that had damaged the state’s salmon habitats. He notes, “It was a momentous outcome in a decades-long legal battle that drew attention because of its implications for Native American treaty rights and state sovereignty.” The decision offers new hope to tribes in the area who had signed treaties in 1854-55 in which they gave up millions of acres of land in exchange for “the right to take fish.”
ED BOARD OVERTURE 1.0
|“The practice tends to disproportionately purge African Americans and other minorities, who tend to vote less often in midterm elections than white voters. And it fits with a deplorable trend in some Republican-led states to make it harder for minority voters to register — and now, apparently, to remain eligible after registering.” That’s the Editorial Board for USA Today responding to the Supreme Court’s validation of Ohio’s practice of voter purging, which the Ed Board says is really a scheme of voter suppression more than anything else.
ED BOARD OVERTURE 2.0
|“The practice tends to disproportionately purge African Americans and other minorities, who tend to vote less often in midterm elections than white voters. And it fits with a deplorable trend in some Republican-led states to make it harder for minority voters to register — and now, apparently, to remain eligible after registering.” That’s the Editorial Board for USA Today responding to the Supreme Court’s validation of Ohio’s practice of voter purging, which the Ed Board says is really a scheme of voter suppression more than anything else.
SCOTUS VIEWS
The Supreme Court Blesses Voter Purges
The Atlantic“Monday’s decision will certainly spur an escalation in the war on the right to vote. That war is being waged largely in red states. The federal government, now under Republican control, has joined the battle as well. Though the Obama administration joined the plaintiffs in opposing Ohio’s system, it reversed its position when Trump took office.”
The Supreme Court Is Apparently Fine With Disenfranchising Democrats And People Of Color
Los Angeles Times“In other words, this isn’t simply about cleaning up the voter rolls. It isn’t just about preventing voter fraud. As with so many other laws and rules around the country that make it harder for people to vote, Ohio’s process (so vehemently defended by the Republicans) disenfranchises Democratic voters — and along the way, disproportionately affects African Americans, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic.”
Supreme Court Delivers To The GOP A Victory In The War On Voting
The Washington Post“Republicans didn’t develop an interest in purging because they have a deep and heartfelt concern that voter rolls may include extraneous entries, people who have moved or died and thus won’t show up to the polls but still take up a line in a database somewhere. They’re taking this step because voter purges — like voter ID laws, like restricting early voting, and like limiting the number of polling locations — offer an opportunity to make it more difficult for people who might vote Democratic to cast a ballot, especially African Americans.”