The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against North Carolina's voter ID law is one of the most brutal takedowns I've ever read.
According to the court, state lawmakers requested data that revealed the impact voter ID laws would have on black voters and, rather than use that data to soften their legislation, they used it to target and marginalize black voters. They explicitly and intentionally disenfranchised voters. Full stop.
That should have been enough of an embarrassment all on its own, but Governor Pat McCrory isn't satisfied.
McCrory has submitted a request for a hearing at the Supreme Court and you won't believe who they've hired to argue the case.
“Allowing the 4th Circuit’s ruling to stand creates confusion among voters and poll workers and it disregards our successful rollout of Voter ID in the 2016 primary elections,” the Republican governor said in a news release. “The 4th Circuit’s ruling is just plain wrong and we cannot allow it to stand. We are confident that the Supreme Court will uphold our state’s law and reverse the 4th Circuit.”
Who did McCrory hire to argue this stinker?
Paul Clement.
Regular readers or anyone who has paid any attention over the last four years should be fairly familiar with Paul Clement. The former solicitor general argued the (first) case against Obamacare. He also represented House Republicans in their case against gay marriage. Clement also defended Arizona's "Papers Please" immigration law and sought to take down Seattle's $15 minimum wage.
As you know, Clement lost all of the cases I just mentioned and yet he still demands one of the highest prices in the country. The taxpayers of North Carolina will pay a very high price for the services of Clement even if the Supreme Court ultimately declines to take the state's case. Clement is on the clock as of now.
By saying that the 4th Circuit's ruling "disregards" their "successful rollout" of voter ID, Governor McCrory may as well say the court has disregarded their highly targeted suppression of black voters.
A primary election is not the same thing as a general election and no judge is that stupid. I would say McCrory himself probably doesn't believe that bullshit, but I just don't know. This is a man who regularly jokes in public about an unconstitutional "bathroom bill" that has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in lost economic activity. This is all very funny to Pat McCrory.