Andrew Rosenthal blogs at the NY Times “Loyal Opposition” blog:

On Monday, the Justice Department blocked Texas’ voter ID law , and the state is fighting back. At a forum in Dallas Thursday night, Republican candidates running to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Senate argued that the Justice Department is trying to stop Texas from implementing “common-sense law.” Rick Hasen reported on his Election Law blog that Texas is not only challenging Justice on the merits of its decision, but is arguing that Section 5 is an unconstitutional infringement on states’ rights.

A state’s right to do what? This argument goes back to the dark days when states argued that the federal government had no right to interfere with their mistreatment of minorities. It took a Civil War, two constitutional amendments, the blood of civil rights activists, an act of Congress, and courageous Supreme Court justices to put an end to that. The ideologically driven Roberts bloc has already allowed the financially powerful to drown out other voices in campaigns. It would be tragic if they allow the politically powerful to decide who gets to vote.