If the
Westmoreland proactive bailout amendment
is out, it almost certainly is not because it had a chance of
succeeding, as
Rick speculates, but rather because there is not enough internal
political
dissension regarding that amendment. As is indicated in this article
and
elsewhere, the only amendments that are coming to the floor are those
which the
GOP cannot (for internal political reasons) prevent from coming to the
floor. They’ll bring those amendments to the floor that they have
to in order to avoid an internal GOP civil war. What we can take from
this, in my opinion, is that while the GOP rebels feel strongly about
gutting
Sec. 203 and changing those jurisdictions targeted by Sec. 5 (and, in
my
opinion, reducing the effectiveness of Sec. 5), they don’t feel as
strongly about proactive bailout as a political matter. While I have
not
personally supported the proactive bailout provision, and don’t believe
it is necessary to make the Act more likely to pass constitutional
muster, this
fact, if true, must give pause to those who thought that the GOP rebels
actually had the best interests of the Act (and its constitutionality)
in mind
with these amendments.
David
J. Becker
Senior Attorney
People for the American Way
Foundation
2000 M Street,
NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 467-2360
-- Direct
(202) 293-2672
-- Fax
dbecker@pfaw.org
-- www.pfaw.org
VRA Vote Set in House for Tomorrow; King
Amendment on Section 203
Language Provisions May Be Allowed---Is Bailout Out?
See this CQ
Midday report. Scroll down. There is no mention of the bail out
amendment.
As I understood the original deal, the only amendments that were going
to be
allowed were those the leadership thought were going to fail. Will bail
out be
out because it has a chance of success? (It is not mentioned in the CQ
report
as a possible amendment---just a note on "two or three amendments").
We should know tonight, when the new Rule is announced.
--
Rick Hasen
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School
919 Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211
(213)736-1466 - voice
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org