The Court cited the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform co-chaired by James A. Baker III, who was the architect of the heavy-handed 2000 Republican effort that forced Bush into the White House. This effort included delaying tactics like the famous "preppy riot," and other subterfuges to see that the Florida vote was not verified through a recount. The Commission also came under harsh criticism for the photo ID recommendation. This is hardly a serious source unless name-dropping is a criterion.
Most remarkably, the Court admitted that there was very little evidence proving that voter fraud even exists. In footnote 12 of the Stevens' opinion, the Court evaluated evidence of voter fraud in Indiana and found no evidence of in-person voter fraud, the entire rationale for the law.
Stevens went looking elsewhere and claimed that "There remains scattered evidence of voter fraud." And he found it -- one instance -- in the 2004 Washington gubernatorial race. Nineteen "ghost voters" were discovered (based on an oral opinion by a local judge) and a news report mentioned of one individual attempting in-person voter fraud. Twenty examples of voter fraud are all the Court could muster to affirm a law that may affect the vote of millions and change elections. (See comment on footnotes 11, 12, and 13)
"But if a nondiscriminatory law is supported by valid neutral justifications, those justifications should not be disregarded simply because partisan interests may have provided one motivation for the votes of individual legislators." Justice John Paul Stevens, Majority Decision, Crawford et al. v. Marion County Election Board et al., Apr. 28, 2008
The partisan sources and justifications used to support Judge Stevens' ruling should not be disregarded either. The evidence selection process speaks volumes about the Court's intention to contract rather than expand the franchise
In addition to biased evidence, a most compelling argument for the partisan nature of the decision is found in the Indiana law. As mentioned, absentee by mail and absentee by hospitalization or due to disability voters do not have to present a photo ID when they vote.
Are absentee and in-person voters at equal risk for committing voter fraud? If so, then the Indiana law creates two classes of voters: in-person voters who are subjected to more restrictive voter identification and absentee voters who have less restrictive identification standards.
This is a glaring inconsistency. It gives an advantage to those who choose to vote absentee. Is there some reason to believe that this class of voters is inherently more honest than in-person voters? If not, using the Court's own logic, the failure to identify and act on that inconsistency shows a less than serious attitude toward the supposed threat of "voter fraud."
This decision resurrects a trend in voting rights not seen since the post-Reconstruction era following the Civil War. During the decade following the Compromise of 1877, black participation in civic life in the South was reduced to an absolute minimum by deliberate plan. The plan’s goal was to severely restrict the voting rights of black citizens.
Resurrecting the "Redeemer" Coalition
The "Compromise of 1877" settled the protracted dispute over the 1876 presidential election between Democrat Samuel J. Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. Tilden had more popular votes but there was a dispute over the Electoral College count. A "blue ribbon" commission spent months trying to settle the dispute.
Finally, a "compromise" emerged. Tilden withdrew his claim on the presidency in return for a promise by Hayes to withdraw federal authority from the South. This ended the participation of black citizens in elective politics as voters, candidates, and office holders. During Reconstruction, blacks voted in large numbers, won elective office, and served at all levels of government. This multi-cultural democracy ended just a few years after the compromise when white domination returned to the South.
The Democratic Party of the South was the political arm of this effort, while the Ku Klux Klan and other groups carried out paramilitary and terror functions (murder, rape, lynching, etc.). Those participating in the political arm were known as "The Redeemers," whites who sought “redemption” from the difficulty they experienced sharing power with black citizens.
A true moment of redemption for white supremacy came when the Supreme Court of the United States issued the Williams versus Mississippi decision. This decision allowed other states in the South and elsewhere to adopt the voter suppression provisions of the Mississippi Constitution which were specifically designed to restrict the voting rights of black citizen’s rights and minimize their participation in civic life.
Plaintiff Williams sought to have his murder conviction overturned because he'd not been tried by a jury of his peers. A black citizen, Williams pointed out that juries were chosen on the basis of voter rolls. When they registered to vote, blacks were routinely discriminated against through a variety of means, including the literacy test required to register. White registrars routinely failed blacks and passed whites regardless of the results. Williams argued that he had not received a trial by jury of his peers, since black Mississippians were systematically excluded from the jury.
The Court failed to take this obvious fact into account and decided:
