DOJ Voting Lawsuit: A Look Behind the Curtain

When the Bush Department of Justice filed suit recently against the State of Missouri for supposed violations of the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA), most observers reacted with bewilderment.

After all, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan -a named defendant in the suit- had been working since the first days of her administration on implementing a centralized state voter registration tracking database mandated by 2001's federal Help America Vote Act. The federal government recognizes that effort as central to fostering voter list organization which is the putative subject of the DoJ's lawsuit.

As others have observed, the remedy for what has ailed Missouri's voter lists over the last few years (which were the bailiwick of Secretary of State Matt Blunt, at the time) is now well on its way. The Springfield News-Leader makes this point in an editorial Sunday (previously mentioned here by Roy). The News-Leader writes:

A federal suit could require Secretary of State Robin Carnahan to provide more training on the law to county clerks — but she's already doing that....

By the end of this year, all voter registration lists will be kept in a central computer database in Jefferson City, as required by yet another federal law.

The database will be cross-checked against death certificates, criminal records and Social Security data. It will make it easier to track when a voter moves from one county to another. This should eliminate many of the problems cited in the federal lawsuit.

Then the News-Leader editorial board sensibly asks that question that many have asked since the suit's filing:

The Justice Department knows this database is in the works. It should know that it will resolve many of the problems. So why the rush to file the lawsuit?

Sadly, it appears that the DoJ was in a hurry to file the lawsuit for nothing more noble than petty vindictiveness and crass political advantage.

How so? Consider for a moment the identity of the Justice Department's newest Missouri high-profiler, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District. The holder of that office, you may remember, is one Catherine Hanaway. Hanaway, former Republican Speaker of the Missouri House, has a unique and perverse political incentive for lobbying internally at the Justice Department for this action. You'll also recall that Hanaway was roundly defeated in 2004 for the position of Secretary of State by Robin Carnahan --who now finds her office the target of a suspiciously thin lawsuit.

And as though the personalities involved in the suit did not already point toward a political motive, the method does as well. In fact, the Justice Department's website lists recent litigation undertaken to enforce the National Voter Registration Act, and indicates that these sorts of suits have traditionally been pursued against county election authorities, not state bodies. To illustrate, the litigation list notes that the other recent action for NVRA violations was against Pulaski County Arkansas, and it was lodged because that authority refused to register voters in accordance with the act, a seemingly much greater violation that simple list managment issues. The suit filed against Missouri, it would appear, is a new and unique creation by individuals at the DOJ.

This perhaps ought not be surprising, given recently reported "shifts" in staffing patterns at the Justice Department which have led to oddball litigation and enforcement decisions. The Washington Post reports:

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which has enforced the nation's anti-discrimination laws for nearly half a century, is in the midst of an upheaval that has driven away dozens of veteran lawyers and has damaged morale for many of those who remain, according to former and current career employees....

The Bush administration has filed only three lawsuits -- all of them this year -- under the section of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits discrimination against minority voters, and none of them involves discrimination against blacks. The initial case was the Justice Department's first reverse-discrimination lawsuit, accusing a majority-black county in Mississippi of discriminating against white voters.

Add that consideration to the mix with a new US Attorney with a political axe to grind (as well as another whose family recently received a windfall from Missouri's Republican administration) and a Secretary of State perceived as a national Democratic rising star, and the case has been neatly made that the Justice lawsuit is a laughably bogus (and wasteful) political witchhunt.

Of course, all of this talk of ill motive should not mask that fact that the lawsuit itself ought to fail on the legal merits. But Missourians should understand, as Jack Cardetti warned months ago, that sometimes it's dangerous to have naturally political folks "cooling their heels" in a job that's meant for someone who'll put Justice first.

Obviously, vigilance remains important, as every politically motivated suit that pops up may not be as easily recognized as this one.