title:  North Carolina Republicans Lose As Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Voter Suppression Law
text: Republican racists in North Carolina just got their asses handed to them by the United States 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.In 2013, Republicans abused their power in North Carolina by passing a law designed to keep them in power by suppressing the votes of minorities and young people by requiring they bring voter identification. The law also cut early voting, ended same day registration, and heavily restricted pre-registration of young voters. It has been the most draconian anti-voting law in the country, and has drawn massive protests ever since.Critics of the law challenged it s constitutionality in court, only to see the district court rule against them. But now a federal appeals court has not only reversed the lower court s decision, it slammed them. In holding that the legislature did not enact the challenged provisions with discriminatory intent, the court seems to have missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees,  Judge Diana Motz wrote in the decision.  This failure of perspective led the court to ignore critical facts bearing on legislative intent, including the inextricable link between race and politics in North Carolina. And then Motz roundly condemned the Republican-dominated state legislature of North Carolina. The General Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African Americans,  she wrote, stressing that the court did their homework which led to their ruling.In response to claims that intentional racial discrimination animated its action, the State offered only meager justifications. Although the new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist. Thus the asserted justifications cannot and do not conceal the State s true motivation.Faced with this record, we can only conclude that the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the challenged provisions of the law with discriminatory intent. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the district court to the contrary and remand with instructions to enjoin the challenged provisions of the law. We recognize that elections have consequences, but winning an election does not empower anyone in any party to engage in purposeful racial discrimination.  Motz concluded.Here s the full decision via Talking Points Memo:This is a major victory for voting rights in this country and a humiliating defeat for Republicans who really thought they could suppress the votes of millions of Americans and get away with it just because they gained power in the state.Now Democrats have a fair chance to not only oust these Republicans and take back the state government of North Carolina, the voters who just got their voting rights restored will get a chance to vote in November just in time to participate in what will be a historical election.Featured Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images