Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record on racial issues and his answers to questions posed by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week raise red flags about how he would rule on voting rights if confirmed to the Supreme Court.
During his confirmation hearing to become a Supreme Court justice, Kavanaugh bragged about hiring people of color as law clerks and decried the use of the “n” word. But this proved mere window dressing as his answers to the senators’ questions brought his racist views into sharp focus.
When Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) asked him whether he agreed with Donald Trump that there was blame on both sides during the Charlottesville Nazi rally, Kavanaugh refused to say “no.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) queried Kavanaugh about an amicus brief he co-authored with Robert Bork in a Ityala eli-1999 in which they argued that it was unconstitutional to prevent people who weren’t Native Hawaiians from voting for trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Hirono quoted an email in which Kavanaugh wrote, “I think the testimony needs to make clear that any program targeting Native Hawaiians as a group is subject to strict scrutiny and of questionable validity under the Constitution.”
That email was one of tens of thousands of documents the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee had marked “committee confidential” in an unprecedented attempt to hide them from the public. By releasing that email, Hirono risked censure, discipline or removal from the Senate.
Hirono, who said Kavanaugh’s views on Native Hawaiians are “factually wrong” and incredibly offensive, uxelele umtyunjwa:
“Ndicinga ukuba unengxaki apha. Uluvo lwakho lwelokuba abantu baseHawaii abalufanelanga ukhuseleko njengabantu bomthonyama phantsi koMgaqo-siseko kwaye ingxoxo yakho iphakamisa umbuzo onzima malunga nendlela onokuthi uvote ngayo ngokusemthethweni kweenkqubo ezinceda abantu bomthonyama baseAlaska. Ndicinga ukuba oogxa bam baseAlaska bafanele bakhathazeke kakhulu ziimbono zakho.”
Kwi I-Wall Street Journal ishicilelwe, Kavanaugh called the program “Hawaii’s naked racial spoils system.” Harris asked Kavanaugh whether he knew that “racial spoils system” is commonly used by white supremacists. Kavanaugh said he didn’t.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) confronted Kavanaugh with another racist expression he had used, this time while working in the George W. Bush administration. Booker queried the nominee about his characterization of an affirmative action program as “a naked racial set-aside.” Kavanaugh had used the offensive phrase in an email criticizing an affirmative action program under consideration by the Supreme Court. Like Hirono, Booker risked censure, discipline or removal by releasing this email, which had been marked “committee confidential.”
The Voting Rights Act in Jeopardy
U-Kavanaugh uye wagqiba kuphela ityala elinye lamalungelo okuvota. Ngo-2012, wabhala uluvo lwephaneli yeejaji ezintathu EMzantsi Carolina v. United States, ebixhasa umthetho wesazisi somvoti. ISebe lezoBulungisa lika-Obama laliwuchasile lo mthetho, lifumanisa ukuba lophule uMthetho wamaLungelo okuvota ngenxa yokuba lalinokukhulula amashumi amawaka abavoti abangengabo abamhlophe ababengenakufane bachongwe kunabamhlophe.
Isebe lezoBulungisa libonise ubungqina obubonisa ukuba umthetho waseMzantsi Carolina awulingani kwaye ubathwalisa nzima abavoti abangabamhlophe. Ubungqina bengcaphephe bubonise ukuba abavoti abaMnyama balindeleke ngokuphindwe kabini kunabavoti abamhlophe ukuba bangabi nazo isazisi esifunekayo.
Kodwa uKavanaugh wanika ubunzima obungakumbi kumagosa anyuliweyo. Wathenga kwingxoxo yokuba umthetho uya kuthintela ubuqhophololo babavoti, nangona urhulumente engazisanga bungqina bokuxhasa elo bango.
Umhlaba obalaseleyo 1965 uMthetho wamaLungelo okuvota prohibits any voting practice or procedure that “results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.”
Umntu othi idolophu, umasipala okanye umthetho welizwe wophula uMthetho wamaLungelo oVoto akufuneki aqinisekise ukuba umthetho wawiswa ngenjongo yobuhlanga. Ufuna kuphela ubungqina bomthetho unokuba nesiphumo sokwenza kube nzima ngakumbi kumntu webala ukuba avote.
NAACP President Cornell Brooks testified at Jeff Sessions’s attorney general confirmation hearing that the Voting Rights Act “is regarded as the crown jewel of civil rights.”
Kwimeko ka-2013 ye Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down Section 5 of the Act, which established a formula for preclearance of jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination.
“We’ve seen nothing less than a Machiavellian frenzy of voter disenfranchisement from one end of the country to the other” since Shelby was decided, Brooks said.
Kwityala lesazisi somvoti waseMzantsi Carolina, U-Kavanaugh walile ukujoyina isivumelwano esahlukileyo esisayinwe zezinye iijaji ezimbini kwiphaneli, eqinisekisa kwakhona "umsebenzi obalulekileyo odlalwe apha kwiCandelo lesi-5 loMthetho wamaLungelo okuvota."
Ubuqhophololo babavoti busetyenziswa njengesizathu sokucinezela amalungelo okuvota. A 2014 study reported by The Washington Post kufunyenwe kuphela izehlo ezingama-31 zobuqhophololo babavoti kwiivoti ezingaphezu kwebhiliyoni ezi-1 ezifakwe ukusuka ku-2000 ukuya ku-2014.
“From Ohio to Wisconsin to Georgia, the vestiges of Jim Crow have resurfaced under a new cloak, unchecked and unabated,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-Louisiana), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, in a statement to the senators at Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing
Enyanisweni, ukususela ngowe-2010, Amazwe angama-23 enze imithetho engqongqo yokuvota, according to the Brennan Center.
USen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) wakhankanya imizekelo emibini - North Carolina kunye neTexas - ngelixa bebuza uKavanaugh.
In 2016, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in NAACP v. North Carolina wabetha umthetho wokuvota waseNorth Carolina ka-2013 owaseka imfuno ye-ID yesithombe kwaye waphelisa ubhaliso losuku olunye, ukuvota ngaphandle kwe-precinct kunye nokubhaliswa kwangaphambili kwabafundi bezikolo eziphakamileyo. Emva kokucela idatha malunga neepateni zokuvota zeentlanga ezahlukeneyo, abezomthetho baseNorth Carolina babhale umthetho "oza kujolisa abantu base-Afrika-baseMelika phantse ngokuchanekileyo ngotyando," yatsho inkundla.
Ngaphakathi Veasey v. Perry, a US District Court held that Texas’s voter ID law created an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote, had an impermissibly discriminatory effect on Latinos and African Americans, and was imposed with an unconstitutional discriminatory purpose. The court also found the provision in question constituted an unconstitutional poll tax.
Emva kokucengceleza imbali engathandekiyo yaseTexas yokwala ukufikelela kuvoto, inkundla yathi, "Le mbali ayichazi nje kuphela ucalucalulo eTexas malunga nokuvota, kodwa ibonisa ukurhoxa okuye kwaqhubeka kwizizukulwana ngaphandle kokungenelela okuphindaphindiweyo komanyano. urhulumente neenkundla zakhe egameni labantu abambalwa.”
Ekuqaleni konyaka ophelileyo, iiSeshini zeGqwetha Jikelele zawurhoxisa umgaqo-nkqubo weSebe lezoBulungisa lika-Obama wokucela umngeni kwimithetho ye-ID yabavoti. Ngoku iSebe lezoBulungisa liyangenelela lixhasa amazwe amisela amanyathelo okuthintela ukufikelela okulinganayo kwivoti.
Ngenxa yokwanda kwemithetho ebeka imiqobo ekuvoteni, iNkundla ePhakamileyo iya kuba nethuba lokuphinda iwucacise uMthetho wamaLungelo okuvota.
Conservative organizations continue to cry “voter fraud” as a foil to enact laws that suppress voting rights for people of color. Kavanaugh’s entry onto the Court will make five solidly right-wing justices. The fate of the Voting Rights Act hangs in the balance.
Akuvumelekanga Thunti. Iphinde yashicilelwa ngemvume.
UMarjorie Cohn ngunjingalwazi ophumayo eThomas Jefferson School of Law, owayesakuba ngumongameli weNational Lawyers Guild, usekela-nobhala jikelele weInternational Association of Democratic Lawyers kunye nelungu lebhodi yabacebisi yeVeterans for Peace. Uhlelo oluhlaziyiweyo lwencwadi yakhe, Iidrones kunye nokubulawa okujoliswe kuyo: iMiba yoMthetho, iSimo sokuziphatha kunye neGeopolitical, isanda kupapashwa.
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