After the Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law on Thursday that threw out votes cast in the wrong precinct and prohibitions on ballot harvesting, the disgust and rage were palpable on CNN as disgraced chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said this was the latest part of Chief Justice John Roberts' legacy of destroying "the most important civil rights law in American history."
But before that, CNN Newsroom co-host Jim Sciutto set the stage with his typical gloomy outlook on the alleged state of voting rights in America, "At a critical time, frankly, this decision. A time when multiple state legislatures are passing laws that restrict the right to vote. So in 2013, Section 5 is weakened. No more federal oversight required in effect for these kinds of laws. Now Section 2."
Proceeding to read from Section 2 and its standard for prohibiting restrictions on voting, Sciutto asked: "Jeffrey, in legal terms, explain how these justices and this decision has weaken that standard or that test?"
Without a hint of irony, Toobin began by trying to "look at the big picture," which for him meant, "When we look back at the tenure of John Roberts, I think one of the signature accomplishments and, you know, we'll see whether many people view it as an accomplishments, but one of the signature results of the Roberts Court was destruction of the most important civil rights law in American history, the Voting Rights Act of 1965."
It's rather difficult for CNN to claim regulations against ballot harvesting are racially motivated. In 2018, CNN ran an article saying North Carolina's Ninth Congressional District might need to have a do-over election because illegal GOP ballot harvesting might have led to fraud. Republicans would win the special election a year later.
Of course, Toobin ignored this in claiming: "It is going to be harder to prove that there were discriminatory results. That is a big deal under all circumstances, but especially now when so many states are making it harder to vote, especially for black people."
Later in, Toobin would add that after 2013 Republicans "started passing laws that made it harder to vote. Limiting absentee balloting, limiting early voting, you know, passing photo I.D. requirements, all of those restrictions started after Shelby County" and that Thursday's decision would make it harder to challenge those provisions.
Toobin would also predict: "I think if anything this law, this decision today will certainly strengthen those who say, look, we need to get rid of the filibuster because the Voting Rights Act is getting weaker and weaker all of the time thanks to these judicial interpretations. We need to pass a revised Voting Rights Act. It's not happening now and it may not happen at all."
We'll see how that pans out considering how, after Justice Kennedy's retirement, he insisted abortion would be soon made illegal in much of the country.
While Toobin may have been warning that the sky was falling on voting rights in America, everyone could take comfort in the fact that at least he managed to keep his pants on.
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Here is the relevant transcript:
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
July 1, 2021
10:07 a.m. EasternJIM SCIUTTO: At a critical time, frankly, this decision. A time when multiple state legislatures are passing laws that restrict the right to vote. So in 2013, Section 5 is weakened. No more federal oversight required in effect for these kinds of laws. Now Section 2, the provision of that, I'm going to quote from it, from the original voting rights legislation which said that no voting regulation could be imposed that “results in a denial or abridgment of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” So -- so Jeffrey, in legal terms, explain how these justices and this decision has weaken that standard or that test?
JEFFREY TOOBIN: Well, you know, just to -- to focus for a minute on the big picture here. Every -- every tenure of chief justice is known for certain things. Like, when Earl Warren was chief justice, he was known as, you know, the civil rights period at the Supreme Court starting with Brown v. Board of Education.
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
TOOBIN: When we look back at the tenure of John Roberts, I think one of the signature accomplishments and, you know, we'll see whether many people view it as an accomplishment, but one of the signature results of the Roberts Court was the destruction of the most important civil rights law in American history, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Because as -- as we've been saying, in 2013, in the Shelby County case, the Court really crippled, ended Section 5, which was the federal oversight provision and now with this decision today, we see the crippling of at least part of Section 2, which is the law that says the -- the federal government or private parties can sue to stop election policies that have discriminatory results or discriminatory intent. Now, this case is about discriminatory results and what the case has amounted -- what the case is going to do, and obviously I haven't read the whole thing yet, it just came out moments ago, but it's going to make it much harder for plaintiffs to say, look, the laws --- the law that you are -- you passed in Arizona or Iowa or Florida or Georgia or all of these cases where these new laws are in effect, there -- there -- it is going to be harder to prove that there were discriminatory results.
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
TOOBIN: That is a big deal under all circumstances, but especially now when so many states are making it harder to vote, especially for black people.
(....)
10:10 a.m. Eastern
TOOBIN: Well the rain started literally the next day --
POPPY HARLOW: Yeah.
TOOBIN: -- after the Shelby County case was decided. The next day, after Shelby County, North Carolina and Texas, which North Carolina was then under total Republican control, Texas still is, started passing laws that made it harder to vote. Limiting absentee balloting, limiting early voting, you know, passing photo I.D. requirements, all of those restrictions started after Shelby County. But now, after President Trump's lies about the -- what led to his loss in the 2020 election, all of these states are making a bad situation worse, are trying to restrict the laws even more. Now, as we know, there have been attempts in -- in Congress, that are ongoing, to strengthen the Voting Rights Act, essentially to overrule Shelby County, to overrule this decision, which is --
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
TOOBIN: -- which was not a surprise. But those have failed because the Democratic majority of 50 doesn't have 60 votes to overcome a
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
TOOBIN: -- Republican filibuster and the Democratic Party at least so far has shown in the Senate has not been -- has not been willing to over -- change the filibuster rules.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. Yeah.
TOOBIN: But I think if anything this law, this decision today will certainly strengthen those who say, look, we need to get rid of the filibuster because the Voting Rights Act is getting weaker and weaker all of the time --
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
TOOBIN: -- thanks to these judicial interpretations. We need to pass a revised Voting Rights Act. It's not happening now and it may not happen at all.
