voter id - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T15:51:33Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/voter+idBlack Conservatives Cheer North Carolina's New Voter ID Lawhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/black-conservatives-cheer-north-carolina-s-new-voter-id-law2013-08-14T15:25:16.000Z2013-08-14T15:25:16.000ZTheBlackList-Publisherhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListPublisher<div><div><p><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em><strong>Black Conservatives Cheer New Voter Protections for North Carolina</strong></em></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em><strong>ID Requirement a Constitutional Safeguard that Helps Prevent Vote Fraud</strong></em></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em><strong>Court Challenges and Threats from Obama Administration are Politically-Motivated, Voter Integrity Activists Say</strong></em></span><br /><br /></p>
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<p><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3">Legal experts with the Project 21 black leadership network are applauding new voter protections signed into law this week by North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory.<br /><br />"I'm thrilled to see that North Carolina is joining the brigade of states enforcing Voter ID," said Project 21 Co-Chairman <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mb-onmxo32&_v=2">Horace Cooper</a>, a former constitutional law professor and Capitol Hill staff member to congressional leadership. "Voter ID is constitutional and legal and, as the evidence demonstrates, it encourages real Americans to cast their vote knowing they won't be displaced by ghosts, convicts or illegal aliens."<br /><br />North Carolina's new voter protection law requires voters at polling places to prove their identity by presenting government-issued identification such as a driver's license, passport or military ID that corresponds to their voter registration. It will be fully implemented in 2016. Voter ID laws such as this were determined to be constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, but the Obama Administration -- specifically Attorney General Eric Holder – has in recent years <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mc-onmxo33&_v=2">kept many voter ID laws from being enforced</a> by imposing "preclearance" standards imposed on certain states by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.<br /><br />Holder's ability to overrule the will of the some states’ voters came from the nearly 50-year-old formula found in the Voting Rights Act that held all or part of 16 states to a different standard due to generations-old reported abuses. This formula, however, was determined to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court this past June in its decision in the case of<em>Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder</em>.<br /><br />Within hours of the North Carolina bill being signed into law, separate lawsuits seeking to overturn the new protection were filed by the ACLU and <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9md-onmxo34&_v=2">NAACP</a>. These challenges claim the law discriminates against minorities. Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) also asked Attorney General Holder <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9me-onmxo35&_v=2">to intervene</a>. Holder is already fighting new voter protections applied in Texas after the Shelby decision, and is said to be considering his options with regard to North Carolina.<br /><br />"Once again, we are faced with a politically-motivated Justice Department led by Eric Holder that is threatening to interfere in a state's efforts to prevent voter fraud," said Project 21 Co-Chairman <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mf-onmxo36&_v=2">Cherylyn Harley LeBon</a>, a former senior counsel with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. "Despite the fact that<a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mg-onmxo37&_v=2">voter ID is supported by nearly 70 percent of North Carolinians</a> , it would appear that Holder and liberal activist groups -- who have already filed lawsuits against the protections -- feel they have the ability to circumvent the Supreme Court's recent Shelby County decision by resurrecting the Section 4 preclearance formula after the Court struck down. Welcome to Eric Holder's world – where, seemingly, the rules do not apply."<br /><br />Earlier this year, Project 21 filed its own <em><a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mh-onmxo38&_v=2">amicus curiae</a></em> ("friend of the court") legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on the merits of the <em>Shelby County v. Holder</em> case. Previously, Project 21 joined another <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mi-onmxo39&_v=2">legal brief</a> that was written by the <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mj-onmxo30&_v=2">Pacific Legal Foundation</a> and also joined by the Center for Equal Opportunity that urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case.<br /><br />Members of Project 21, the only conservative group on hand for interviews at the Court on the day the case was argued, were interviewed and cited with regard to the Shelby case over 100 times so far in 2013 alone -- including by Reuters, the Westwood One radio network, HBO's "Real Time," CBS Radio, Voice of America, the Chicago Tribune, Blaze TV, the Washington Examiner and in Cal Thomas's widely-syndicated opinion column.<br /></font></font><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3"><br /></font></font><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3">Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over two decades, is sponsored by the <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mk-onmxo31&_v=2">National Center for Public Policy Research</a>, a conservative, free-market, non-profit think-tank established in 1982. <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9ml-onmxo32&_v=2">Contributions</a></font></font><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3"> to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated</font></font> <font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3">.</font></font><br /><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3"><em><br /></em></font></font></p>
<p><strong><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3">SOURCE:</font></font></strong></p>
<p><span class="font-size-1"><em><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3">The National Center for Public Policy Research<br />501 Capitol Court, N.E.<br />Washington, D.C. 20002<br /><a target="_blank">(202) 543-4110</a><br />Fax <a target="_blank">(202) 543-5975</a><br />E-Mail: <a target="_blank" href="mailto:info@nationalcenter.org">info@nationalcenter.org</a><br />Web: <a target="_blank" name="wwwnationalcenterorg" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5sm72-9h9mv-onmxo32&_v=2" id="wwwnationalcenterorg">www.nationalcenter.org</a></font></font></em></span></p>
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<hr /><p><br /></p></div>Project 21: Black Conservative Legal Expert Condemns Latest DOJ Attack on Texas Voter ID Lawhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/project-21-black-conservative-legal-expert-condemns-latest-doj-at2013-07-26T14:30:00.000Z2013-07-26T14:30:00.000ZTheBlackList-Publisherhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListPublisher<div><p></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/images/cooper_sm.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.nationalcenter.org/images/cooper_sm.jpg?width=200" width="200" class="align-center" alt="cooper_sm.jpg?width=200" /></a><span class="font-size-1"><span>Project 21 Co-Chairman </span><a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2l-onmxo37&_v=2">Horace Cooper<br /></a> <br /></span></p>
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<p><strong style="color:#ff0000;"><em>Black Legal Expert Condemns Latest DOJ Attack on Texas Voter ID</em></strong></p>
<div><p><strong style="color:#ff0000;"><em>Eric Holder's Attempt to Revive Unconstitutional Preclearance Standards is Based on "Phony Claims," Says Author of 2012 Paper Critical of DOJ Claims that Texas' Voter ID Law is Discriminatory</em></strong><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong><em>Despite Supreme Court Ruling Last Month on Voting Rights Act’s Section 4, Holder Says Texas is Just the First State DOJ is Going After in New Push Using Section 3</em></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong><em>Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Mississippi, South Carolina, Other States May Be in DOJ Crosshairs</em></strong></span><br /></p>
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<p><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3">A legal expert with the Project 21 black leadership network is criticizing today's announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder that the Obama Administration intends to revive the onerous and out-of-date "preclearance" standards of the Voting Rights Act. Only one month ago, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Act's antiquated preclearance formula.<br /><br /> Project 21 Co-Chairman <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2l-onmxo37&_v=2">Horace Cooper</a>, a native Texan, former constitutional law professor and legal counsel to then-U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, said the move is a crassly political one that will force Holder to "put up or shut up."<br /><br /> In a July 25 speech to the National Urban League in Philadelphia, Attorney General Holder <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2m-onmxo38&_v=2">called</a> the Supreme Court's June 25 decision in Shelby County, Alabama v. Eric Holder "deeply disappointing -- and flawed." That decision found Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act to be unconstitutional -- saying the Act's nearly 50-year-old formula for setting "preclearance" standards that required certain states, counties and localities to obtain prior federal approval for all actions affecting voting is not consistent with generations of positive change in American race relations.<br /><br /> "With today's statement, Attorney General Eric Holder proves he is more interested in political stunts than enforcing the law," said Project 21's Cooper. "It may aid the political efforts of Mr. Holder to bring these phony claims to court, but his win-loss record in these matters is becoming clearer and clearer."<br /><br /> Holder said that the Justice Department is "determined to use every tool at our disposal" to overcome the Court's ruling, and that he intends "to fully utilize the law's remaining sections" to find ways to impose preclearance standards on jurisdictions he apparently believes to still be governed by racists.<br /><br /> In particular, Holder told the National Urban League audience that he has "ask[ed] a federal court in Texas to subject the State of Texas to a preclearance regime." The main tool of such a regime against Texas, Section 4, was lifted by the Shelby County decision.<br /><br /> In an action disproving claims made by the civil rights lobby and liberal politicians at the time of the Shelby County decision that the justices gutted the Voting Rights Act, Holder's new strategy involves utilizing Section 3 of the Act. Section 3's "bail in" option allows for additions to the now-unconstitutional preclearance pool that had arbitrarily punished all or part of 16 states, largely based on actions observed during the 1964 elections. In seeking to create a new preclearance pool in the post-Shelby era, Holder must show current discrimination, and the burden of proving accusations of clear and present offenses lies with the accuser.<br /><br /> "The courtroom is no place to roll the dice to find out what the law is, and the Attorney General of the United States should know better," Cooper explained. "Whether Mr. Holder chooses to admit it or not, the burdens have shifted and the process is changed. Instead of Texas having to disprove the Obama Justice Department's claims, it is now up to Mr. Holder to put up or shut up."<br /><br /> The Justice Department <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2n-onmxo39&_v=2">sent</a> a "statement of interest" to a three-judge panel currently examining electoral districts drawn by the state legislature that are alleged to not be representative enough of Hispanic voters.<br /><br /> Last year, the Justice Department put a hold on ballot safeguards passed by Texas lawmakers that required government-issued identification for in-person voting. <br /><br /> In an analysis of this use of the Voting Rights Act's preclearance authority to block implementation of voter ID, Project 21's Cooper <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2o-onmxo30&_v=2">wrote</a> in 2012: "The actions of the Department of Justice are wholly unjustified. The foot-dragging, the shoddy statistical analysis and the decision to ignore U.S. Supreme Court precedent reveal either a beleaguered Justice Department incapable of maintaining a professional level of operation or a rogue agency willfully placing its weight on one side of the scale of justice."<br /><br /> A three-judge panel nonetheless sided with the Justice Department.<br /><br /> "And as I noted last year in a <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2p-onmxo31&_v=2">National Policy Analysis</a> published by the National Center for Public Policy Research, using phony statistics won't be sufficient to prevail in court this time around," Cooper argues.<br /><br /> Project 21 filed it's own <em>amicus curiae</em> ("friend of the court")<a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2q-onmxo32&_v=2">legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on the merits of the<em>Shelby County v. Holder</em></a> case. Previously, Project 21 joined another <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2r-onmxo33&_v=2">legal brief</a> that was written by the Pacific Legal Foundation and also joined by the Center for Equal Opportunity that urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case.<br /><br /> Members of Project 21, the only conservative group on hand for interviews at the Court on the day the case was argued, were interviewed and cited with regard to the Shelby case over 100 times so far in 2013 alone -- including by Reuters, the Westwood One radio network, HBO's "Real Time," CBS Radio, Voice of America, the Chicago Tribune, Blaze TV, the Washington Examiner and in Cal Thomas's widely-syndicated opinion column.<br /></font></font> <font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3"><br /></font></font> <font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3">Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over two decades, is sponsored by the <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2s-onmxo34&_v=2">National Center for Public Policy Research</a>, a conservative, free-market, non-profit think-tank established in 1982. <a target="_blank" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g2t-onmxo35&_v=2">Contributions</a></font></font><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3"> to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated</font></font> <font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3">.</font></font><br /><font face="Verdana"><font color="#000000" size="3"><em><br /></em></font></font></p>
<div><strong><font size="2">SOURCE:</font></strong></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"><font size="2"><em>The National Center for Public Policy Research</em><br /><em>501 Capitol Court, N.E.</em><br /><em>Washington, D.C. 20002</em><br /><em><a target="_blank">(202) 543-4110</a></em><br /><em>Fax <a target="_blank">(202) 543-5975</a></em><br /><em>E-Mail: <a target="_blank" href="mailto:info@nationalcenter.org">info@nationalcenter.org</a></em><br /><em>Web: <a target="_blank" name="wwwnationalcenterorg" href="http://trk.cp20.com/Tracking/t.c?5q324-97g33-onmxo31&_v=2" id="wwwnationalcenterorg">www.nationalcenter.org</a></em><br /></font></font></div>
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