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“Think of it like viewing a pointillist painting, such as Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” Walker wrote.

Gotta love a judge who knows how to use a good art history reference. Yet another reason to promote liberal arts education.

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Wonderful summary of the history and (often unstated) intent behind voter suppression laws in Florida. -- Let's hope that this ruling holds up on appeal.

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It is somewhat ironic but the writen judgement of Judge Walker, with it's excellent recall of historical reality, would be now banned from many "Republican controlled" classrooms......for adult eyes only?

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“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof;” but Walker noted that there is another clause in the Constitution that follows that semicolon. It reads: “but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations….”

Thank you, Dr. R, for reminding us about our "ifs," "ands," and "buts!"

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We have many examples of clear eyed articulate leaders around the world to use as examples for what we should expect from Americans, both our leaders and their supporters and followers.

Judge Mark E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Tallahassee is clearly one of these examples.

We see many good examples interviewed on PBS. But the Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas who was interviewed on the war in Ukraine and the Russian threat stood out to my wife and I this week. You can see this interview on YouTube

https://youtu.be/ijLFTxLDw_4

We must hold our leaders, ourselves and each other to higher standards. And promote this everywhere.

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I am very, very grateful to Judge Mark E. Walker's ruling and his masterful reference to George Seurat's pointilism; the removal of one point destroys the entire work.

Let's hope other legal challenges to republican vote-rigging are as successful.

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Apr 1, 2022·edited Apr 1, 2022

Bravo, Judge Mark E. Walker! Way to go! I love his analysis and his imagery! And I love how you've captured the essence of his ruling, Heather.

"Walker notes that the issue at stake is not whether the legislators who wrote the new laws are racist, but rather whether race was a factor in the writing of SB 90. Recognizing that few people would today openly admit their racial motivations, he explains that the court needed to look at the circumstances around the passage of SB 90 to determine if race played a role in the law. 'Think of it like viewing a pointillist painting, such as Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,' Walker wrote. 'One dot of paint on the canvas is meaningless, but when thousands of dots are viewed together, they create something recognizable. So too here, one piece of evidence says little, but when all of the evidence is viewed together, a coherent picture emerges.'"

The coup de grace at the end is priceless -- the ball is in Congress' court! Pick it up and roll with it, Nancy! Then pass it on to the Senate!

"Republicans have defended their assaults on voting by citing the Constitution’s provision that 'The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof;' but Walker noted that there is another clause in the Constitution that follows that semicolon. It reads: 'but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations….'"

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The Confederate White People's Treason Party takes a wallop right in the kisser. Now they need to be kicked when they go down. Repeatedly.

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Judge Walker packed a wallop! He thoroughly did his homework and threw in a bit of history of the arts to boot. For right now, I am happy. Gotta take whatever we can get.

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Thank you, Judge Walker for ripping open the wound that is voter suppression. Sadly similar suppression laws are being enacted all over the country. If they go to the Supreme Court I fear they will win but this is a good start for exposure. Brilliant summary, Heather as always

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Absolutely spectacular summary of a court case I did not even know was in progress. A heartening outcome to be sure.

Thank you ... again.

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Apr 1, 2022·edited Apr 1, 2022

A couple of footnotes: In Florida, for many years now, the main avenue for Democratic policy to be enacted has been via citizen initiatives for Constitutional Amendment. In 2018, by nearly 65% approval (60% was required), citizens who had completed their sentence (with some exceptions) were restored their right to vote by Constitutional Amendment. The Republican legislature promptly passed a law that all fees and restitution had to be paid before voting rights would be restored. Michael Bloomberg swooped in to pay many of the debts and it was discovered the State's records could not account for how much was owed, making it impossible for former felons to pay this debt. Many had been paying while they were imprisoned and the payments were unaccounted for. The Legislature has now made citizen efforts to get Constitutional Amendments on the ballot even more difficult than the rigorous path which was already in place. This case is a great victory and the judge's opinion will be recorded for history regardless of what happens on Appeal.

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To prevail in elections, Republicans don’t huddle together to come up with a platform and policies to broaden their appeal; they officially abandoned the notion of a platform altogether.

Instead they conspire to suppress the vote of those who would vote in opposition. Then they have the chutzpah to talk about “preserving confidence” in the vote.

I’m glad to see Judge Walker’s court anyway do what courts are supposed to do when one branch of government steps across the line. What will result from the inevitable appeal(s) I am not so sure about.

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As a lifelong Floridian, living in a very conservative county (home of the Groveland Four), I can tell you that while overt racism has greatly diminished here in Florida, covert racism is alive and well.

The current legislature and governor have done everything they can do to diminish not just the rights of marginalized Floridians, but of our local governments as well. Just this week, Gov. DeSantis vetoed the bill that redraws Congressional districts. He pushed an aggressive map that would make it almost impossible for two to three Democrats to retain their seats. The legislature refused to go that far, so he is calling a special session in June to force them to accede to his wishes.

Now he is going after Disney, the state's largest employer, because they belatedly opposed the "Don't Say Gay" bill. He wants to strip them of any tax incentives. He is also undermining the education system by taking control away from local school boards and penalizing those school districts that imposed mask mandates (mostly Democratic counties).

You name it, if it means denying and restricting the rights of the poor, Blacks, Latinos, women, gay and transgender citizens, Florida is leading the nation in the race to the bottom (Texas is doing its best to keep up).

Trump ripped off the thin veil of civility that acted as a guardrail against what is happening to our democracy. Now, emboldened by his "F-you, I'll sue you" mentality, leaders like DeSantis and Abbott are trying to "one-up" each other, hoping to achieve "Trump mini-me" status.

So here I sit, in the state that gave us Leroy Collins, Rubin Askew, Lawton Chiles, and Bob Graham, watching this clown car of Republicans try to out-bozo each other in a race to the past.

On to 1850!

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Apr 1, 2022·edited Apr 1, 2022

Thanks for this enlightening post. I was worried that you might be ill, as this was posted so much later than is typical. But then this post was lengthy. A wonderful read. Let’s hope this stands up at the inevitable Appeals Court and Supreme Court levels.

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