In Brief: Insane Lies About Georgia’s Election Law
The Justice Department’s lawsuit is full of terrible distortions about what’s really in the bill.
Joe Biden’s Social Justice Department declared war on honest elections, our Douglas Andrews wrote Monday. The DOJ is specifically attacking Georgia’s election integrity law, and The Federalist’s Margo Cleveland points to nine insane lies from the DOJ’s filing.
- It’s Still 1965
In alleging that provisions in the Georgia voting-integrity law violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the DOJ opened its complaint by proclaiming that the Georgia legislature enacted the law “against the backdrop of Georgia’s history of discrimination against Black Georgians.” The complaint continued with an entire section headed “The State of Georgia’s History of Discrimination,” which stressed, “the history of official racial discrimination against Black citizens in Georgia with regard to voting is longstanding, well-documented, and recognized by Federal courts.”
The DOJ drafted its complaint as though that reality still exists and acting oblivious to the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder, even though a few paragraphs later the Biden administration noted that Georgia had been subject to the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act until 2013, when the Supreme Court decided Shelby County.
But as the Supreme Court made clear in Shelby County, since Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 “things have changed dramatically,” and “conditions have changed significantly.” …
- Georgia Republicans Are a Bunch of Racists
The DOJ’s complaint point-blank accuses the Georgia legislature of racism. In enacting the Election Integrity Act of 2021, “the Georgia General Assembly intended to deny or abridge the right of Black Georgians to vote on account of race or color,” the complaint opens. …
- Racists Exist, Ergo, the Law Is Racist
Besides calling the Georgia legislature racist, the DOJ’s complaint wants to hold the state responsible for racists everywhere. For instance, someone created “a GIF with a slow-swinging noose aimed at [an election worker]” and later that same election worker “faced death threats,” the complaint alleges.
Horrible? Yes. Relevant in any way? No. …
- A Complaint Is Not a Campaign Ad
The Biden administration’s peddling of random and anonymous racist comments as reflective of both the Georgia legislature and the state as a whole mirrored Democrats’ campaign strategy over the years to convince blacks not to vote for Republicans. The irrelevant allegations merely added some legalese to charges, such as Biden in 2012 that, “They’re going to put y'all back in chains.” …
- One Thing Has Nothing to Do With the Other
Likewise irrelevant, yet included in the DOJ’s complaint, were references to Stop the Steal, and litigation about claims of voter fraud in 2020. …
- It’s a Partisan Law
Equally laughable are the DOJ’s allegations concerning the supporters of the new Georgia voting law.
“On February 17, 2021, SB 202 was introduced in the Senate with only white sponsors,” the DOJ wrote in some sort of “gotcha” moment. The DOJ then outdid itself by complaining that the Senate passed the bill “along party lines with no support from Black legislators,” and the House did the same. …
- Problems, What Problems?
The Biden administration’s complaint also takes a hilarious-if-it-weren’t-so-sad spin on the legitimate concerns that drove passage of the Election Integrity Act of 2021, with the DOJ acting as if there were no problems in Georgia’s administration of the 2020 election. …
The Biden administration ticked through the challenged provisions, which include the prohibition on the government from distributing unsolicited absentee ballot applications and the bar on private organizations from distributing duplicate absent ballot applications. The DOJ also objected to the requirement that in requesting an absentee ballot, voters without a state-issued driver’s license provide a photocopy of another form of identification, which could include a utility bill. …
- Left Hand, Meet Far-Left Hand
While in its lawsuit against Georgia, the Biden administration claims that Georgia’s requirement that voters cast ballots in the proper precinct violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, just a few months ago, the Biden administration agreed that Arizona’s out-of-precinct voting law was valid. …
- How Do you Make Sausage?
The bottom line, after nearly 50 pages, is that the Biden administration just does not like the fact that the Georgia legislature passed the Election Integrity Act of 2021, and the complaint unwittingly makes clear that is the real beef the DOJ has with the new law. How else to explain the DOJ’s allegations related to the legislative process, and its complaint, for instance, that one of the law’s bill sponsors had indicated that a future bill would include a provision not later included in the bill as past? Or the tedious detailing of the process by which the bill passed?
It’s almost as if Biden forgot how the Obama-Biden administration squeezed through the so-called Affordable Care Act.
