The Hill points out that Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, John Paul Stevens, and Anthony Kennedy just joined Rush Limbaugh, Richard Mellon Scaife, Rupert Murdoch, and William Kristol as full-on members of the vast-right wing conspiracy Get Hillary Clinton Nominated Club. Call them the Terrible Ten.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday to uphold a strict Indiana law requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls, handing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) a serious setback days before a pivotal primary battle.
The decision earned strong rebuke from Democratic leaders in Congress as well as civil rights advocates who argued the voter ID law would disproportionately affect African-Americans and 18- to 34-year-old voters, two important constituencies for Obama.
The law also places a burden on elderly voters, who have tended to support Obama’s rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), though to a lesser degree than it affects African-Americans and young voters.
Indiana is shaping up as the next battleground in the contest between Obama and Clinton. Its May 6 primary will allocate 72 delegates.
The court’s decision also lets stand voter identification laws in two potential general-election battlegrounds: Florida and Georgia.
Florida, the fourth-largest state in the nation, determined the winner of the 2000 presidential race by fewer than 1,000 votes. Former President Bill Clinton won Georgia, which has a high percentage of black voters, in 1992, and some Democratic strategists think Obama could be competitive there.
Political analysts believe that Clinton must win Indiana to stay in the race. They expect Obama to win easily in North Carolina, which also hosts a May 6 primary, because more than 20 percent of that state’s residents are black. Obama has won other Southern states with similar demographic profiles by large margins.
Obama, however, will face a significant disadvantage in Indiana because the high court failed to strike down a law that affects two major pillars of support: black voters and young voters.
Indiana requires that voters present state or federal government-issued photo identification on Election Day.
But a recent study conducted by the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race found that 18 percent of Indiana’s black registered voters do not have a valid photo ID card. The group’s analysis also found that 20 percent of registered voters 18 to 34 years old do not have valid IDs.
This correlation and its likely impact on political participation have raised the ire of the NAACP.
“We’re shocked the Supreme Court would hand down a decision to disenfranchise voters across Indiana,” said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau.
“Potentially, it could affect thousands of African-Americans who have a disproportionate propensity to be poor and less likely to have cars and less likely to have driver’s licenses.”
Shelton said identification cards for non-drivers cost Indiana residents $35.
Obama criticized the court’s decision.
“I am disappointed by today’s Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana’s photo identification law — one of the most restrictive in the nation,” said Obama in a statement. “The right to vote is one of our most privileged rights and important responsibilities as Americans. I filed a brief in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of this law because I believe that it places an unfair burden on Indiana residents who are poor, elderly, disabled, or members of minority groups.”
Obama pledged to fight to ensure all American citizens would have unfettered access to polling places.
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
No comment. Why am I not surprised?
