“Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama Administration will seek to use the Voting Rights Act to constrain Texas self-governance, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which struck down part of the Act in recognition of significant progress made by Texas and other states since the era of state-imposed racial segregation.
“In his remarks, the Attorney General alleged that the state of Texas continues to commit intentional racial discrimination in its voter laws, in violation of the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. There is, unfortunately for this case, little meaningful evidence. The reality is that Texas, as a so-called majority-minority state, offers opportunity for success and inclusion to Americans from all backgrounds and all walks of life — which is why they’ve been moving here in unprecedented numbers while the rest of the nation suffers under the Obama-era economy. Any politics or policy that excluded those numbers of entrepreneurial new Texans would swiftly fail — as would the politicians who endorsed them.
“If Washington, D.C., wishes to ensure civic inclusion, real democracy, and the prosperity they bring, it needs to start learning from Texas, rather than seeking to control and circumscribe Texas. If our states are to truly be our ‘laboratories of democracy,’ then they must be allowed their sovereignty under the bounds set by the Constitution.”
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