Supreme Court could put new limits on voting rights lawsuits

Eight years after carving the heart out of a landmark voting rights law, the Supreme Court is looking at putting new limits on efforts to combat racial discrimination in voting.

The justices are taking up a case about Arizona restrictions on ballot collection and another policy that penalizes voters who cast ballots in the wrong precinct.

The high court’s consideration comes as Republican officials in the state and around the country have proposed more than 150 measures, following last year’s elections, to restrict voting access that civil rights groups say would disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic voters.

A broad Supreme Court ruling would make it harder to fight those efforts in court. Arguments are set for Tuesday via telephone, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It would be taking away one of the big tools, in fact, the main tool we have left now, to protect voters against racial discrimination,” said Myrna Perez, director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s voting rights and elections program.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, said the high court case is about ballot integrity, not discrimination. “This is about protecting the franchise, not disenfranchising anyone,” said Brnovich, who will argue the case on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden narrowly won Arizona last year, and since 2018, the state has elected two Democratic senators.

The justices will be reviewing an appeals court ruling against a 2016 Arizona law that limits who can return early ballots for another person and against a separate state policy of discarding ballots if a voter goes to the wrong precinct.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the ballot-collection law and the state policy discriminate against minority voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act and that the law also violates the Constitution.

The Voting Rights Act, first enacted in 1965, was extremely effective against discrimination at the ballot box because it forced state and local governments, with a history of discrimination, including Arizona, to get advance approval from the Justice Department or a federal court before making any changes to elections.

https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-arizona-discrimination-lawsuits-voting-rights-c9ab7a4b332667f2858936f5cc133748

Our educational system may not teach students much math or science, but students learn from gutless academic administrators that mob rule is the way to get what you want — and to silence those who disagree with you.

https://twitter.com/ThomasSowell/status/1366046683323392005

Lindsey Boylan and Charlotte Bennett’s detailed accounts of sexual harassment by Gov. Cuomo are extremely serious and painful to read.

There must be an independent investigation - not one led by an individual selected by the Governor, but by the office of the Attorney General.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1366042045861793794

Greek Navy Joins U.S. Coast Guard for Arabian Sea Exercises

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2021/02/28/greek-navy-joins-u-s-coast-guard-for-arabian-sea-exercises/

Recall Begins for Soros-backed Los Angeles D.A. George Gascón

https://www.breitbart.com/law-and-order/2021/02/28/recall-begins-for-soros-backed-los-angeles-d-a-george-gascon/

Trump Set to Return to the Spotlight with CPAC Speech

Aides say Trump will use the speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference to blast his successor, President Joe Biden, and try to cement his status as the party’s undisputed leader going forward despite his loss in November.

“I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we began together four years ago is far from over,” Trump will say, according to excepts of his speech released early. “We are gathered this afternoon to talk about the future — the future of our movement, the future of our party, and the future of our beloved country.”

The event so far at a Hyatt hotel in Orlando, Florida, has been a tribute to Trump and Trumpism, complete with a golden statue in his likeness. Speakers, including many potential GOP 2024 hopefuls, have argued the party must embrace the former president and his followers, even after the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6. They stand in opposition to others who argue the party must move in a new, less divisive direction after Republicans lost not only the White House but both chambers of Congress in the last elections.

“The least popular (leaders) in our party are the ones who want to erase Donald Trump and Donald Trump’s supporters from our party,” said Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, the chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee, during a Saturday panel discussion. “And let me tell you, if that happens, we won’t win back the majority in 2022. We definitely won’t win back the White House in 2024 if we erase Donald Trump.”

On Biden, Trump is expected to deliver a sharp rebuke of what he will frame as the new administration’s first month of failures, including Biden’s approach to immigration and his decision to halt construction of Trump’s southern border wall, his foreign policy posture and his handling of the economy as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

It is highly unusual for past American presidents to publicly criticize their successors so soon after leaving office. Ex-presidents typically step out of the spotlight for at least a while; Barack Obama was famously seen kitesurfing on vacation after he departed, while George W. Bush said he believed Obama “deserves my silence” and took up painting.

Not Trump.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki brushed off the expected criticism. “We’ll see what he says, but our focus is certainly not on what President Trump is saying at CPAC,” she told reporters.

Aside from criticizing Biden, Trump is expected to use the speech to discuss the future of the Republican Party and his “America First” movement, arguing they must stick with him to keep the new voters he brought into the party energized. And he will argue the only divide in the party is between Washington elites and the conservative grassroots, even as he seeks to punish those he has deemed insufficiently loyal, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the No. 3 House Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney.

Indeed, on Friday, Trump began his vengeance campaign, endorsing Max Miller, a former aide who is seeking to oust Ohio Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, who voted in favor of Trump’s impeachment.

While he no longer has his social media megaphone after being barred from Twitter and Facebook, Trump has already been inching back into public life. He called into conservative news outlets after Rush Limbaugh’s death and to wish Tiger Woods well after the pro golfer was injured in a car crash.

“You are going to see a speech on Sunday that talks about not only the beginning but what the future may look like,” Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity earlier this week. “What we will see on Sunday is we will see the start of planning for the next administration. And I can tell you, the people that are in the top of that list, all of ’em have Trump as their last name.”

“I imagine it will not be what we call a ‘low-energy’ speech,” said Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., during his own speech on Friday to CPAC — or “T-PAC” as he called it. “I assure you that it will solidify Donald Trump and all of your feelings about the MAGA movement as the future of the Republican Party.”

https://www.breitbart.com/news/trump-set-to-return-to-the-spotlight-with-cpac-speech/

>>13068801

>>13068823

Sad but true.

Worse then that is that there are those who'll make money off of our suffering.

Saying that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was responsible for the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi is not holding him accountable. The Biden Administration needs to do much more. No meetings with senior US officials and no visits to the US would be a good start.

https://twitter.com/JohnBrennan/status/1366051008661626885

>>13068889

I know. His twitter responses pre-purge were more harsh. Now, they're sycophantic.

>>13068945

>Brennan's playing for Iran.

Well aware, Anon.

> it wasn't Biden

Stating the obvious.

>flashed the middle finger to Iran

Respectfully think you're wrong. Thinking it's revenge on Trump and his pals/RiNO Warmongering