Internal DOJ Documents on Georgia Voter ID Requirements Leaked to Washington Post; Show Career Attorneys Opposed Preclearance

The Washington Post offers a front page report, Criticism of Voting Law Was Overruled; Justice Dept. Backed Georgia Measure Despite Fears of Discrimination. It begins: "A team of Justice Department lawyers and analysts who reviewed a Georgia voter-identification law recommended rejecting it because it was likely to discriminate against black voters, but they were overruled the next day by higher-ranking officials at Justice, according to department documents." The newspaper has posted the 51-page memorandum in pieces, available at this link.

This is significant not only for the Georgia i.d. question (the analysis in the memo will surely be seized upon by plaintiffs in their current suit pending before the 11th circuit after a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction holding the law an unconstitutional "poll tax"). It also highlights the question, raised by Nate Persily, Dan Tokaji, and others whether it makes sense for Congress, in renewing the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act, to retain DOJ as the approving agent in light of a perceived increasing politicization of the DOJ's preclearance decisions. Dan has a recent post on this topic that predates the current revelations, but builds on an earlier Post story on upheaval in the DOJ.

I expect this issue will also play into the post-Katrina claims by members of the civil rights community that the Bush Administration is insensitive to the interests of African-Americans and other minorities.

-- 
Rick Hasen
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School
919 South Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA  90015-0019
(213)736-1466 - voice
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org