Justin Bullock, FISM News
The US federal government, directed by President Biden and led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, is suing the state of Georgia regarding their new voting law signed into law in March of this year. Garland in a press conference announcing the lawsuit said that the new Georgia law unlawfully discriminates against black voters and functions as a form of voter suppression. The lawsuit comes on the heels of Georgia’s announcement that they are auditing their voting registration list and have removed just over 100,000 names from the list thus far.
There is a massive movement across the country, statewide and federally, to pass legislation in an effort to shore up the election process. Georgia has been at the center of this discussion on voting reform. One of the major reasons for all of this is that Georgia was experienced a large amount of controversy during the 2020 presidential election when it turned in favor of the Democrat nominee, now President Biden, for the first time since Jimmy Carter was elected president. Former President Trump infamously alleged that voting fraud occurred in Georgia and called on Georgia’s Secretary of State to recount the vote, which the Secretary of State refused to do.
This lawsuit is destined for the US Supreme Court as it is expected that however it turns out in the lower courts, both sides will appeal to the highest extent possible. The case will also serve as the sounding bell for the dozens of other voting reform laws recently passed across the US. However, even though the case is expected to eventually end up before the Supreme Court, absent some sort of emergency circumstances, the case will not be heard by the Supreme Court for a number of years.
Attorney General Garland said at the press conference, “[t]his lawsuit is the first of many steps we are taking to ensure that all eligible voters can cast a vote.”