Earlier today, AG Merrick Garland announced that the DOJ would be suing Georgia over the state’s recently enacted election reform law, SB202. RedState has covered the controversy extensively so click here, here, and here for background.
At first blush, nothing about Garland’s announcement seemed to hold water. What exactly are they going to sue over? Georgia’s voting laws, even under the new reforms, are less restrictive on balance than places like Delaware and New York. Is there some constitutional right to weeks of early voting or universal mail-in ballots that I’m unaware of?
Admittedly, I’m no a lawyer, and I try not to play one on the internet. Still, reading the claims made in the lawsuit as a layman will make your mind melt. Hat tip to Margot Cleveland at The Federalist for putting this thread together.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) June 25, 2021
Now, again, I’m no lawyer, and perhaps there’s some facet of federal law that makes state laws invalid if they are sponsored by only people of a certain race, but I kind of doubt it.
It gets worse, though.
4/ So, basically, the DOJ is now litigating because legislators opposed to the legislation lost. pic.twitter.com/2luU2azJxm
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) June 25, 2021
6/ And, sure, GA is responsible for some wacko white supremacist group that everyone denounced! pic.twitter.com/4df5g8H39g
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) June 25, 2021
No, Rep. Park Cannon was arrested because she chose to beat on Kemp’s door, in violation of the numerous commands of his security detail. Contrary to any other presumption, Cannon did not have a right to “witness” the signing by Kemp and she didn’t have a right to harass the governor while he’s working any more than Kemp would have the right to do that to her.
Further, what does a robocall from three years ago that wasn’t done by any part of the Georgia government have to do with any of this? I recognize they are trying to set the stage here by making it seem like SB202 is a “white supremacist” law, but at what point do they make an actual argument that the law is violating some kind of federal statute or something?
Regardless, after lots of pure idiocy, the DOJ does finally manage to at least mention what parts of the law they find discriminatory.
8/ And finally the substantive claim: "with the PURPOSE of denying or abridging…" pic.twitter.com/FjB1bYPYbn
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) June 25, 2021
This just makes no sense to me. How is either of those provisions targeting black people specifically? Such discrimination is certainly not written into the law itself, and both provisions are equally applied. What proof is there that black people require unsolicited absentee ballot mailings to have equal access to voting? And how would a provision that fines third-party groups for meddling in the absentee ballot system be in violation of the Civil Rights Act or any other federal law?
Maybe I’m just missing it here, and RedState’s resident lawyers will no doubt have some deeper dives for you later. But on the surface, this lawsuit appears moronic in the extreme. I’d be shocked if the 11th Circuit, which now leans conservative thanks to Donald Trump, ruled in favor of the DOJ here, and that’s assuming it gets there.
But perhaps the absurdity is the point? If the DOJ knows they are likely to lose, at least they will get a bunch of woke points out of this. After all, it hits all the “right” notes to satisfy the left-wing base of the Democrat Party, and saying you tried is half the battle in politics. And rest assured, the DOJ is hopelessly politicized with Garland at the helm.
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