In re Latinos v USA

Dr. Henry Flores, NewsTaco

In re is Latin for “in the case of” or “in regards to”.  It’s a legal term that a court uses when it makes a declaration about some point of law that is uncontested.

I’m using this term to make a socio-political judgment concerning SCOTUS’s recent Shelby County decision.  I obviously cannot draw any legal opinion because I’m not a legal scholar, judge or, even, an attorney.  However, I am a political observer and commentator so I’ll make a political comment based on my observation of SCOTUS.

Fundamentally, the majority of SCOTUS made and wrote a racist opinion.  I base my opinion upon the following findings.  The opinion was composed by five white men–yes, all five are white–who hold anti-affirmative action, anti-voting rights, anti-public education, anti-environmental, pro-white supremacy, pro-state’s rights, and pro-corporate beliefs.  This majority is so ideologically extreme it should have recused itself from the Shelby opinion indicating an inability to render an objective legal and constitutional opinion.  You don’t have to take my word for how myopic their perception is; all have left a public record in their legal and public statements.

The next reason I “opine” (I just love this legalese) is that the Shelby County opinion is a beautiful and unfettered example of an open declaration of “white privilege.” This is a term political anthropologists have coined. It defines a social status Americans spend their lives trying to achieve, few succeeding.  For instance, Chief Justice Roberts, the Little General Abbott, and Governor Good Hair have all achieved “white privilege” status while you and I have not nor ever will.

“White Privileged” folks can approach voting booths, airport security, police stations, tax offices, almost any public spaces and are treated differently than you or I.  They and we have the same legal rights, just not the same political status.

What SCOTUS did when they found Section 4 of the VRA unconstitutional was to strip us of a legal protection that defined our citizenship status. That took us one step closer to their status and they just couldn’t, in their own minds, handle that.  Declaring Section 4 unconstitutional was “putting us in our place.”  Declaring Section 4 unconstitutional was showing us “uppity Mexicans,” yes we’re all just Mexicans, that we had gotten a little too close to politically influencing the national government. It was time for us to understand our “place” in this society.

SCOTUS, the “white boy majority,” ignored a slew, un monton, of facts in their decision.  SCOTUS made a purely political decision ignoring more than 100,000 Section 5 submissions since 1982, an average of more than 4,000 annually.  Pero, I guess they are like any other ideologically oriented official, they can ignore what they wish, after all they are Extreme, perdon, I meant Supreme!

Also, let us not forget that the “Extremes” have declared, in all their anthropological and sociological wisdom, that “times have changed”, so the United States no longer needs such a draconian law as the Voting Rights Act.  The Extremes have decided that our country does not need to be divided along racial lines.  So with a swipe of their magic wand the Extremes declared the end of racism.  Even though racial divisions are driving the movement toward stricter voter registration laws, mote limited voting days, and generally the minimization of voter access across the nation.

Essentially, the Extremes ruled that we needed to have a “color-blind” system of laws and privileges and that is exactly what they did. They said they created color-blind jurisprudence yet what they did was blind justice by promoting ongoing racist voting and election policies.  What the Extremes did was not a step toward a color-blind future but rather a step backward to a time when extremism, violence and intimidation decided who was able to vote in our country.

Pero what can one expect from a group of lawyers who are pure and simply political appointees.

[Image by DonkeyHotey]

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