This is the second time today I have been struck by the impatient tenor of the comments here.  This morning we were referenced to Bob Bauer's blog-ed urging the Supreme Court, whatever else it does, to decide the Vermont case quickly.  It is bad enough we've had to wait until now, they can't possibly give us such agony as to have to wait until next week or--perish the thought--until the following week.  Others who disagreed with him on substantive points agreed with his sense of urgency.  The delay may betoken a fractured decision, a la Vieth and a la the wetlands decision, which would probably be a bad thing.  But the delay itself has no effect whatever on the public weal.
 
         The Republicans' delaying VRA renewal seems to me to be an example of aiming a bullet at their own foot, so far as the fall elections are concerned, and that was the point of the short message I posted earlier.  But the Act does not expire until 2007.  No one doubts that renewal will occur.  The public will not suffer if renewal occurs next year rather than this year, though perhaps some Republican candidates will.
 
         It is no mystery why the press, with its 24-hour news cycle, acts as if any delay in deciding anything is a public horror.  Why can't we display a little more patience in this circle?
 
 
          Best,
 
          Daniel Lowenstein
          UCLA Law School
          405 Hilgard
          Los Angeles, California 90095-1476
          310-825-5148

________________________________

From: owner-election-law_gl@majordomo.lls.edu on behalf of JMWice@aol.com
Sent: Wed 6/21/2006 4:38 PM
To: election-law@majordomo.lls.edu
Subject: Re: FW: FW: "House Delays Renewal of Voting Rights Act"


What's most surprising about delaying the VRA House debate is that so many House leaders misread their members. Speaker Hastert, Chairman Sensenbrenner, and other GOP leaders joined with Democratic Leader Pelosi, Democratic Whip Hoyer and members of the Black Caucus when they indroduced the legislation at a bipartisan press conference. If the VRA is so important to the leadership, and they are serious about their commitment to minorty voters and communities, they should be able to pursuade their colleagues to step to the plate. On an issue as important to them as the VRA, perhaps they could have found a way around their 50% majority support requirement.

Jeff Wice