Court Fight Against Georgia Voting Overhaul No Sure Thing
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Antigen & Monday PCR testing March 29, 2021 by walk-in or T: 582-7800 www.arubatoday.com appointment facebook.com/arubatoday instagram.com/arubatoday Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper Page 8 Court fight against Georgia voting overhaul no sure thing By Mark Sherman absentee ballot, violate Associated Press the constitutional rights of WASHINGTON (AP) — Court all Georgians and also dis- challenges to Republican- proportionately affect vot- led election restrictions in ers of color in violation of Georgia and elsewhere the seminal Voting Rights face an uncertain road Act of 1965. in a legal system that has The Georgia law was en- grown more conservative acted less than three in recent years. months after the state National legislation favored elected two Democrats to by Democrats could coun- the Senate, handing the teract some state restric- party control of the cham- tions, but that too is no sure ber. In November, Presi- thing in a closely divided dent Joe Biden became Congress. the first Democratic presi- Groups opposed to Geor- dential candidate to carry gia’s sweeping overhaul the state since 1992. of election laws filed suit in It is one of a wave of GOP- federal court in Atlanta on backed election bills intro- Thursday, a few hours after duced in states around the FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2020, file photo, a poll worker talks to a voter before they vote on a paper Gov. Brian Kemp signed country after former Presi- ballot on Election Day in Atlanta. The sweeping rewrite of Georgia's election rules that was signed the new law. They say re- dent Donald Trump stoked into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp Thursday, March 25, 2021, represents the first big set of strictions on voting in per- false claims that fraud led changes since former President Donald Trump's repeated, baseless claims of fraud following his son or by mail, including a to his 2020 election defeat. presidential loss to Joe Biden. Georgia’s new, 98-page law makes numerous changes to how requirement to have voter elections will be administered, including a new photo ID requirement for voting absentee by mail. identification to cast an Continued on next page (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, A2 MONDAY 29 MARCH 2021 UP FRONT of California at Irvine law A decision in the Arizona school, said the outcome case is expected by late is hard to predict. “Many June. of the things that the bill The Supreme Court's last does are in line with what major decision on the vot- other states already do, so ing rights law was in 2013, the question is whether a when the court effectively contraction of voting rights gutted a key provision that for bad purposes is illegal, had forced states and lo- even if the contraction cal governments with a does not go as far as some history of discrimination to other states (or that Geor- get approval before en- gia considered),” Hasen acting any election-related wrote in an email. changes. Courts have made it harder The cumulative effect of to prove intentional racial the 2013 decision and discrimination, and “a par- subsequent measures en- tisan intent, even if it over- acted by states "is to really laps with race, may well not empower states who are be enough,” Hasen said. interested in limiting voting State and federal courts, in- to do that with more of a cluding judges appointed hope that they will be able by Trump, widely rejected to survive legal challenges," lawsuits brought by the Pearlstein said. former president and his Congress could render the FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2021, file photo, voters wait in line to cast their ballots in Georgia's Senate run- supporters challenging the court fight virtually mean- off election in Atlanta. The sweeping rewrite of Georgia's election rules that was signed into law election results. ingless if it were to pass by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp Thursday, March 25, 2021, represents the first big set of changes But Republican-led states Democratic proposals that since former President Donald Trump's repeated, baseless claims of fraud following his presiden- tial loss to Joe Biden. Georgia’s new, 98-page law makes numerous changes to how elections will have fared better in feder- would, among other things, be administered, including a new photo ID requirement for voting absentee by mail. (AP Photo/ al court over other election strike down hurdles to vot- Brynn Anderson, File) issues, most notably a ruling ing and revive the ad- last year that forced Florida vance approval portion of Continued from Front Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Jason Snead, a conserva- felons to pay off fines and the Voting Rights Act. Georgia became a focus Democratic nominee for tive supporter of the law, fees before regaining their “The Constitution gives of the election and its af- governor in Georgia, wrote called it “a pretty reason- right to vote. Congress broad powers to termath with two recounts on Twitter that the new law able set of proposals” that In that case, the 11th U.S. set the rules for conducting and ongoing investigation signaled Republican “ca- will "continue the tradition Circuit Court of Appeals di- federal elections,” Hasen into whether Trump and his pitulation to lies over truth. of keeping it easy to vote vided on ideological lines, said, and constitutional allies acted illegally in their To fear over fairness. To and hard to cheat.” with five Trump appointees amendments that extend- efforts to try to overturn the suppression over participa- Richard Hasen, an election among the six conserva- ed the vote to Black Ameri- result. tion.” law expert at the University tives in the majority. The cans, women and 18-year- Atlanta-based 11th Circuit olds provide more authority includes Georgia, and the for protecting voting rights. same court would handle Democrats would almost any appeal of a trial court certainly have to change ruling. Senate rules to win approv- The Supreme Court, with al for the legislation by vir- three Trump appointees in tue of the tie-breaking vote a 6-3 conservative major- of Vice President Kamala ity, likely would have the Harris. final word on challenges to Court challenges would restrictions in Georgia and surely follow, Snead said, al- elsewhere. though he conceded that The justices' pending deci- some provisions, including sion in a voting rights case rescinding state voter ID re- from Arizona involving bal- quirements probably would lot collection and votes survive.q cast in the wrong precincts — two areas also covered in the Georgia law — also could affect the outcome ARUBA of the Georgia lawsuit, es- CLEAN pecially if the court waters down a surviving provision of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. “The fate of this lawsuit might really turn on what we learn this spring from the Supreme Court,” said Deborah Pearlstein, a con- stitutional law professor at IS MORE Yeshiva University’s Cardo- zo law school in New York. DUSHI A3 U.S. NEWS MONDAY 29 MARCH 2021 New York lawmakers agree to legalize recreational marijuana By Marina Villeneuve and an open letter signed by Jennifer Peltz Associated the Medical Society of the Press State of NY, New York State ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Law- Parent Teacher Associa- makers reached an agree- tion, New York Sheriff’s As- ment late Saturday to le- sociation and several other galize recreational marijua- organizations March 11. na sales in New York. New York officials plan to At least 14 other states al- launch an education and ready allow residents to buy prevention campaign marijuana for recreational aimed at reducing the risk and not just medical use, of cannabis among school- but New York’s past efforts aged children, and schools to pass marijuana legaliza- could get grants for anti- tion have failed in recent vaping and drug preven- years. Democrats who now tion and awareness pro- wield a veto-proof majority grams. in the state Legislature have And the state will also made passing it a priority launch a study due by Dec. this year, and Democratic 31, 2022, that examines the Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ad- extent that cannabis im- ministration has estimated pairs driving, and whether legalization could eventu- it depends on factors like ally bring the state about time and metabolism. $350 million annually. “One of the things that no “My goal in carrying this leg- country in the world has FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2017, file photo, James MacWilliams prunes a marijuana plant that he is grow- islation has always been to ing indoors in Portland, Maine. New York has failed in recent years to pass marijuana legalization, and everybody wants is end the racially disparate but a state senator said lawmakers have reached an agreement to legalize marijuana sales to a way to quickly and eas- enforcement of marijuana adults over the age of 21. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) ily figure out if someone’s prohibition that has taken high or impaired on can- such a toll on communities ers have a crack at the farmers, women and dis- liance’s director for New nabis,” University of Buffalo of color across our state, marketplace” alongside abled veterans. York state, said the bill "re- psychologist and professor and to use the economic the state’s existing medical Proponents have said the ally puts a nail in the coffin of community health and windfall of legalization to marijuana providers. move could create thou- of the drug war that’s been health behavior R. Lorraine help heal and repair those “There’s a big pie in which sands of jobs and begin to so devastating to commu- Collins said.