Legal Commentary

Supreme Court Blocks Ohio Voter Registration Rematch

By Jeralyn

The Supreme Court today summarily overturned the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal's 9 to 6 en banc ruling designed to disrupt new voters in Ohio at the behest of the Republican party.

The Court in a per curiam ruling held, as argued by the Ohio voting officials, that the GOP appears to have no standing under Section 1983 to sue to overturn the state's established voter registration procedures.

We express no opinion on the question whether HAVA is being properly implemented. Respondents, however, are not sufficiently likely to prevail on the question whether Congress has authorized the District Court to enforce Section 303 in an action brought by a private litigant to justify the issuance of a TRO.

The Order in Brunner v. Ohio Republican Party, 07A332, is here. Scotusblog has more. People for the American Way (PFAW)issued this statement:

This is a good decision for democracy. The facts are clear: there isn’t a shred of evidence of organized voter fraud in this country, and GOP efforts to prevent it only risk disenfranchising American citizens who have every right to cast a ballot.

The “voter fraud” fraud has been pushed by the right wing to help justify draconian restrictions on the right to vote. We should all be grateful that the Court managed to look through the deceit and exaggeration that has dominated this discussion.

Unfortunately, plenty of opportunity remains for the right wing to undermine this election. I certainly hope they will resist challenging massive numbers of voters as they try to cast a ballot, but we shouldn’t take anything for granted.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 17, 2008 (boomark / email).