So long civil rights, at least for voting, or at least it took a heavy, Die Hard–like blow. Say goodbye to the VRA (Voting Rights Act), a historic piece of legislation that has become just that — history — as the Supreme Court gutted a key section, ruling the formula for preclearance unconstitutional in a 5-4 decision with Chief Justice John Roberts woriting the majority (winning) opinion.
I certainly thought there would be a man-on-man tussle between Obama and JR (Roberts), as I mentioned in Out of Many, One: Obama and the Third American Political Tradition. I didn’t quite see it going down like this — man-on-man Die Hard action, with JR more Bruce (Willis) than Matt (Damon). Well, we all knew that JR was spoiling for a Separation of Powers fight, and he threw a heavy punch this morning at our former civil-rights professor, President Obama.
Ruth Frick O'Brien 