{"id":1414527,"date":"2022-04-01T09:14:42","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T13:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1414527"},"modified":"2022-04-01T09:14:45","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T13:14:45","slug":"obama-nominated-judge-strikes-down-parts-of-floridas-new-voting-law-implies-theyre-racially-motivated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-nominated-judge-strikes-down-parts-of-floridas-new-voting-law-implies-theyre-racially-motivated\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama-Nominated Judge Strikes Down Parts Of Florida\u2019s New Voting Law, Implies They\u2019re Racially Motivated"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fobama-nominated-judge-strikes-down-parts-of-floridas-new-voting-law-implies-theyre-racially-motivated%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1414527&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1372590546.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Siding with the League of Women Voters, which had sued the Florida Secretary of State, the Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee, a Florida federal judge nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2012 ruled Thursday that some of the state\u2019s new election laws are unconstitutional and implied they are racially motivated. He also ruled that for the next ten years, his court \u201cretains jurisdiction\u201d \u00a0and the state may \u201cenact no law or regulation governing 3PVROs, drop boxes, or \u2018line warming\u2019 activities, as those terms are defined in this Order, without submitting such law or regulation for preclearance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Judge Mark E. Walker of Federal District Court in Tallahassee, who stated that those who argue that we live in a post-racial society are wrong, <a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21564733\/ndfl-voting.pdf\">began his ruling<\/a> by stating portentously, \u201cThis case is about our sacred right to vote\u2014won at great cost in blood and treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walker\u2019s decision means that state and local officials may not enforce, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/florida-politics\/2022\/03\/31\/federal-judge-says-parts-of-2021-florida-voting-law-are-unconstitutional\/\">Tampa Bay Times<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>A provision that limited the use of ballot drop boxes to early voting hours, unless they\u2019re in a supervisor\u2019s office, and required the boxes to be manned at all times; <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A requirement that third-party groups issue a warning\u00a0when trying to register voters, including telling voters that their registration application might not be turned in before the voter registration deadline or within the required 14 days.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> A provision that changed the rules around the \u201cno-solicitation zone\u201d around a polling site to prohibit \u201cany activity with the intent to influence or effect of influencing a voter.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Walker summed up the arguments from both sides, concluding the \u201cplaintiffs are right\u201d:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>Defendants argue that SB 90 makes minor prophylactic changes to the election code. Plaintiffs, on the other hand, allege that SB 90 runs roughshod over the right to vote, unnecessarily making voting harder for all eligible Floridians, unduly burdening disabled voters, and intentionally targeting minority voters\u2014all to improve the electoral prospects of the party in power. This Court has received thousands of pages of evidence\u2014plus thousands more pages of briefing\u2014and has heard two weeks\u2019 worth of testimony from 42 witnesses, ranging from state senators to statisticians. Having reviewed all the evidence, this Court finds that, for the most part, Plaintiffs are right.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Walker stated dramatically that the Voting Rights Act was \u201cunder siege.\u201d He also asserted, \u201cThis Court finds that the Legislature enacted some of SB 90\u2019s provisions with the intent to discriminate against Black voters.\u201d He opined, \u201cThere are those who suggest that we live in a post-racial society. \u2026 But that is simply not so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He wrote, \u201c\u2026 when the Florida Legislature passes law after law disproportionately burdening Black voters, this Court can no longer accept that the effect is incidental. Based on the indisputable pattern set out above, this Court finds that, in the past 20 years, Florida has repeatedly sought to make voting tougher for Black voters because of their propensity to favor Democratic candidates. In summation, Florida has a horrendous history of racial discrimination in voting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While stating that \u201cwhen called to examine the Florida Election Code\u2019s fidelity to federal law, this Court must use a gentle touch, recognizing the State\u2019s prerogative to make such laws while also safeguarding the Constitution\u2019s guarantees to the people of Florida,\u201d Walker continued, \u00a0\u201cRecognizing this truth, this Court has long deferred to the State when evaluating its election regulations. \u2026 Sometimes, however, Florida goes too far\u2026. But even then, Florida has often accepted this Court\u2019s ruling and endeavored to fix the deficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an astonishing passage, Walker wrote that he had to infer the legislature\u2019s racial motivations by relying on circumstantial evidence:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>\u2026 in this day and age, few would be so foolish as to openly admit their racial motivations\u2014knowing that any such statement would provide fodder for a law\u2019s opponents. Instead, this Court must rely on circumstantial evidence. In other words, this Court must infer the Legislature\u2019s intent from all of the circumstances surrounding SB 90\u2019s passage.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Walker then segued into art, writing, \u201cThink of it like viewing a pointillist painting, such as Georges Seurat\u2019s <em>A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte<\/em>. One dot of paint on the canvas is meaningless, but when thousands of dots are viewed together, they create something recognizable. So too here, one piece of evidence says little, but when all of the evidence is viewed together, a coherent picture emerges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walker attacked the Supreme Court, writing, \u201c\u2026the Court has allowed its wholly judge-made prudential rule to trump some of our most precious constitutional rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He wrote, \u201cFloridians have been forced to live under a law that violates their rights on multiple fronts for over a year. Without preclearance, Florida could continue to enact such laws, replacing them every legislative session if courts view them with skepticism. Such a scheme makes a mockery of the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Republican Governor Ron DeSantis responded to the ruling by saying, \u201cIn front of certain district judges, we know we will lose no matter what because they are not going to follow the law. \u2026 It\u2019s just a matter of how quickly it\u2019s going to get reversed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wilton Simpson, the president of the Florida State Senate, reacted to Walker\u2019s decision by calling it \u201chighly unprofessional, inaccurate, and unbecoming of an officer of the court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The case will now go to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, which is considered much more conservative.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same?\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>Become a member now and join our mission.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Siding with the League of Women Voters, which had sued the Florida Secretary of State, the Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee, a Florida federal judge nominated by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1414527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1414527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1414527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1414527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1414527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}