(Combating the conservative hegemony in the legal field should be a top priority, because conservatives have been fighting with limited opposition for far too long. Above all, we need to raise awareness of conservative's OWN judicial activism, hidden behind a wall of generally meaningless rhetoric attacking liberals. This diary does an excellent job of focusing on an eggregious threat posed by such activism. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
On Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) delivered a speech at the University of the District of Columbia's David A. Clarke School of Law, during which he discussed the Supreme Court and the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
During his speech, Sen. Leahy highlighted the Court's imminent decision in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. One v. Holder (NAMUDNO), expected to be the Court's most significant ruling of the Term and, as Senator Leahy called it, "one of its most important decisions in years." The plaintiff is this case, a utility district in Texas, has challenged the constitutionality of the reauthorization by Congress of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- the "preclearance" provision. Given questions posed by a number of the conservative Justices during April's oral argument, it is widely expected that the Court will rule that Congress exceeded its constitutional authority in 2006 when it voted overwhelmingly (98-0 in the Senate) to reauthorize the preclearance provision. That action was taken by Congress, as Sen. Leahy stated yesterday, based on extensive hearings and written testimony indicating the provision still played an important role in preventing racial discrimination in voting.
