The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the federal government can pre-empt a state and require that it use a national voter registration form, in a decision that punctured part of Arizona's far-reaching voter-check laws.
The Supreme Court is expected this month to announce rulings on two key voting rights cases that could reshape how Americans nationwide cast ballots in federal elections.
Leading up to the 2012 U.S. presidential election there was a great deal of controversy surrounding proposed voter identification laws in various states -- notably in Texas and South Carolina. Currently 20 states, the District of Columbia and all U.S. non-state territories do not require voters to produce identification of any kind at the polls. Opponents of voter ID laws claim they would deprive minorities of their voting rights. Yet those same opponents have begun to clamor for more stringent gun laws, which would deprive those same minorities of their right to bear arms.
The Border Patrol cannot confiscate or download every laptop or electronic device brought into the U.S., a federal appeals court said, ruling that people have an expectation their data are private and that the government must have "reasonable suspicion" before it starts to snoop.
The Supreme Court this week will take up a potentially landmark case that could end almost five decades of Justice Department intervention that gives the federal government control over voting decisions in states and localities with a history of discrimination.
Pennsylvania's controversial photo identification law isn't yet in effect, but voters told state officials on Election Day that they were turned away from the polls because they didn't comply with it.
New York's police commissioner apologized Wednesday for appearing in a documentary movie about terrorism that Muslim groups have criticized as inflammatory, and said his department acted wrongly when it later showed the film to counterterrorism trainees.
The makers of a documentary on radical Islam are defending their work after Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized the showing of it where police officers were gathered.
Is it racist to require people to show a photo ID when they vote? You need a photo ID for nearly any meaningful transaction, such as cashing checks, including government checks. If this simple requirement "suppresses" the vote, maybe we need to ask why it's such a great idea to push for universal suffrage for every adult who is merely breathing.
Voters in Maine, Mississippi and Washington will decide election-reform questions this November, joining a wave of 36 states that in 2011 moved to increase identification requirements, limit the early-voting period, or toughen up registration rules.
Writer, editor, producer and attorney Susan Lehman will run the publishing imprint Twelve, where authors have included Sen. Edward Kennedy, Christopher Hitchens and Sebastian Junger.
The wide-ranging extent of concern about our prison at Guantanamo Bay's effect on the credibility in the world of the values we profess was demonstrated at June 26 rally in Washington, where, as reported by the Associated Baptist Press, "Thousands of Christians and other activists" protested against 'torture, indefinite imprisonment and other tactics the United States has used in the war against terrorism.' "
The wide-ranging extent of concern about our prison at Guantanamo Bay's effect on the credibility in the world of the values we profess was demonstrated at June 26 rally in Washington, where, as reported by the Associated Baptist Press, "Thousands of Christians and other activists" protested against 'torture, indefinite imprisonment and other tactics the United States has used in the war against terrorism.' "
