Monday, March 4, 2013

Sotomayor, Kagan Browbeat Scalia over Voting Rights Act Argument

 

Sotomayor and Kagan, how I detest thee, let me count the ways.

Liberals have accused Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia of being the court's resident bully, but when two liberal female Suprem Court Justices--Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan--this week tried to browbeat Scalia and lawyers arguing against the Voting Rights Act's Section 5 pre-clearance requirement, the mainstream media hailed their efforts.  

In oral arguments in Shelby County v. Holder on Wednesday, Scalia made the point that members of Congress have no reason whatsoever to vote against the extension of the Voting Rights Act and that he was "fairly confident it will be reenacted in perpetuity unless--unless a court can say it does not comport with the Constitution."

"I think it is attributable, very likely attributable, to a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement," Scalia said

Scalia's point was that once a bill has the effect of ensuring that minority candidates get elected from "minority" districts, it is almost impossible, in the political system, to vote against extending the act. 

"Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes," Scalia said. "I don't think there is anything to be gained by any Senator to vote against continuation of this act."

Scalia said there were "certain districts in the House that are black districts by law just about now" and even the Virginia Senators "have no interest in voting against this" because they would lose votes "if they do not reenact the Voting Rights Act." 

"Even the name of it is wonderful: The Voting Rights Act," Scalia said. "Who is going to vote against that in the future?"

More @ Breitbart

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