Proponents of voter identification laws lost another round as a federal magistrate in Kansas released a 118-page decision denouncing a requirement to show proof of citizenship before voting by overturning a law enacted by the State’s Republican-led legislature.
The move was not unexpected, given the liberal-dominated judicial climate catering to illegals and denouncing any policy, procedure, or law that smells of a Trump edict. But alas, Judge Julie Robinson, set on making her displeasure of said voting law personal, ordered Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to complete an additional six hours of legal education – on top of usual requisites – to renew his law license to practice. Punitive overkill, much?
Judge Julie Robinson
Her gavel must have ceaselessly pounded at every objection and statement Kobach uttered throughout the two-year legal battle brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, but the public scolding of Kobach by the ACLU takes the cake:
“This decision is a stinging rebuke of Kris Kobach, and the centerpiece of his voter suppression efforts: a show-me-your-papers law that has disenfranchised tens of thousands of Kansans. That law was based on a xenophobic lie that noncitizens are engaged in rampant election fraud. The court found that there is ‘no credible evidence’ for that falsehood, and correctly ruled that Kobach’s documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement violates federal law and the U.S. Constitution.”
There’s that tag word again: xenophobic. Can’t we return to the good old days of just using racist and chauvinistic?
But, seriously, the attack seems more personal against Kobach rather than procedurally motivated. But then again, Kobach is a Republican and avid supporter of President Trump, and of strict immigration policy.
Unfortunately, for those Americans who do believe that voter fraud is rampant, the unwieldy 118-page decision by Robinson passes the sniff test – not by this writer, but Liberty Nation’s own Scott D. Cosenza, a Constitutional Lawyer and Legal Affairs Analyst:
“The district court here simply calculated the claims according to an imposed a balancing test. Judge Robinson was charged with determining if Kansas’ requirements met the test required by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals where it resides. That test sets out numerous factors to consider in balancing whether any hurdle to registration passes muster under the National Voter Registration Act. Robinson found Kansas authorities placed an impermissibly heavy burden on unregistered eligible voters because those authorities did not demonstrate a significant problem with ineligible voters registering. Less than three per year statewide.”
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach
Cosenza brings into the discussion the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), more commonly known as the Motor Voter law, which required States to offer voter registration opportunities at motor vehicle agencies, by mail-in application, and through certain government offices, including public assistance and disability locations.
But was the NVRA an assault to the Constitution? As the 10th Amendment states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Cosenza observes:
“Whether the NVRA is itself constitutional is another matter. It’s hard to see how, given that we have a 10th Amendment, and that Congress’ powers articulated in Article 1 do not include many of those assumed under the NVRA.”
Kobach and those who wish to crack down on voter fraud – whether it’s three people a year in Kansas or three million in some major metropolitan area – must file suits that are bulletproof, with a clear path to righting the wrong in an effective and optically unbiased manner. For those who back the efforts of Democrats, socialists, and the ACLU by allowing non-citizens to participate in crucial national elections, such suits could bring swift and unrelenting American justice.
By following the law, and the Constitution of the United States, there should be no wiggle room on this issue. Stop tilting at windmills, fighting battles with the press, and get the job done. And someone, please figure out if the NVRA is, in fact, the law of the land.
