Attorney General Eric Holder is speaking at the LBJ School tonight
Eric Holder is speaking at the LBJ school tonight. Susan and Don Bankston are going to be there. Susan heard that there will be 500 republicans present to protest AG Holder.
I am hoping that Holder will discuss the Texas voter id law and the redistricting issues.
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It was very good. Brief but good. Basically he said his Dept would vigorously defend the Voting Rights Act and that it was very appropriate to make that speech at LBJ since he was the President that passed the historic act. And he said that if it wasn't for the VRA and Kennedy and LBJ's work, he would not be the Attorney General four decades later.
He also said that of course it is unfortunate that we still need the act 40 plus years later, but we do. Still lots of voter suppression examples all around the country.
He could not talk specifically about the Texas Voter ID case or the redistricting case other than to say that DOJ would review it vigorously and would defend against any attempt to violate the spirit of the VRA.
Unfortunately the gerrymandering that goes on in drawing these ridiculous looking districts is not illegal, that's just partisan politics that's allowed. But what isn't allowed is diluting the strength of minority voting districts.
I'm in total agreement with him on expanding the franchise and modernizing our voter registration so that every eligible voter is registered. The concept is called universal registration and the responsibility falls on the government agencies to make sure all eligible voters are registered.
While the rest of the world is awakening in their fights to expand their democracy, the U.S. is trying to choke it by voter suppression. Well at least the republicans are, anyway. 
I missed that story. Good to hear. I love the Brennan Center!
AG Eric Holder: We Must Uphold Voting Rights Act
The warning from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was polite but firm: The U.S. Department of Justice will not stand idly by if it feels Texas intends to halt or reverse gains for minority voting rights.
That was the message Holder delivered on the University of Texas campus at the library of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Holder spoke just as Texas is squaring off with federal government over two major political voting issues: redistricting and voter ID.
Holder said that the redistricting maps legislators drew this year show that gains made under the Voting Rights Act are being challenged by a Legislature intent on protecting incumbents rather than on having candidates compete for votes.
Maps the Republican-dominated Legislature drew, he said, fail to reflect the burgeoning Hispanic growth in Texas, as indicated by the 2010 U.S. Census.
Transcript: US Attorney General Holder Criticizes Voter ID Laws, Calls For Greater Access in Speech at the LBJ Library & Museum
(snip)
Nearly half a century has passed since a national tragedy catapulted Lyndon Johnson to the Presidency, and at the same time `launched a new chapter in America’s story. Those of us who lived through those painful days will never forget LBJ’s first Presidential speech – to a nation in mourning, and in desperate need of strong and steady leadership. After quoting the 1961 inaugural address in which President Kennedy famously declared, “Let us begin,” President Johnson outlined the unfinished business of the civil rights agenda. Then – with three simple words – he gave voice to the goals of his Presidency, and issued a challenge that has echoed through the ages: “Let us continue.”
In fulfilling this directive, President Johnson – and the many leaders, activists, and ordinary citizens who shared his vision and determination – set our country on a course toward remarkable, once-unimaginable, progress. Together, they opened new doors of opportunity, helping to ensure equal access to schools and public spaces, to restaurants and workplaces, and – perhaps most important of all – to the ballot box. Our great nation was transformed.
In 1965, when President Johnson signed the landmark Voting Rights Act into law, he proclaimed that, “the right to vote is the basic right, without which all others are meaningless.”
Today, as Attorney General, I have the privilege – and the solemn duty – of enforcing this law, and the other civil rights reforms that President Johnson championed. This work is among the Justice Department’s most important priorities. And our efforts honor the generations of Americans who have taken extraordinary risks, and willingly confronted hatred, bias, and ignorance – as well as billy clubs and fire hoses, bullets and bombs – to ensure that their children, and all American citizens, would have the chance to participate in the work of their government. The right to vote is not only the cornerstone of our system of government – it is the lifeblood of our democracy. And no force has proved more powerful – or more integral to the success of the great American experiment – than efforts to expand the franchise.
Full text of speech at link above.
