Christopher Coates

Lawyer Defending South Carolina's Voter ID Law Thinks DOJ Is Biased Against White People

Ryan J. Reilly | January 11, 2012, 5:53AM

Updated: Jan. 11, 11:45AM

South Carolina officials plan to file suit against the federal government because the Justice Department stopped the state from implementing a voter ID law that the state's own statistics showed would have a disparate impact on non-white voters. Fighting on their behalf will be a former DOJ official who claimed that the Civil Rights Division is opposed to protecting the civil rights of whites and who defended the Bush-era politicalization of the division by Bradley Schlozman as an effort to "diversify."

South Carolina has hired former Voting Section Chief Christopher Coates, who defied DOJ's instructions and testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during the Republican-led probe into the infamous New Black Panther Party case, a spokesman for the South Carolina attorney general's office told The State newspaper.

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Topics: Christopher Coates, New Black Panthers, Paul Clement, Section 5, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Texas Redistricting

Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments In Texas Redistricting Case

Ryan J. Reilly | January 9, 2012, 5:00PM

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in a case that could have big legal consequences in Texas this election year as well as portend an uncertain future for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

The justices seemed to struggle with how to handle a case focusing on Texas redistricting given the tight time constrains and the need to implement some map for the 2012 election. At issue is whether a panel of federal judges in San Antonio had gone too far when they drew up interim redistricting maps before a separate panel of judges had ruled on whether the original maps drawn by the legislature were discriminatory. Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act the burden of proof is on Texas to prove that their redistricting maps were not discriminatory, because of the state's history of racial discrimination.

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Topics: Rick Perry, Section 5, Supreme Court, Texas Redistricting, Voting Rights Act