Bill Bickel’s Crimeweek

From this week’s Time magazine:

As Election Day nears, dirty tricks surface. Fliers are left on cars telling Democrats that they should vote on Wednesday, not Tuesday. Anonymous automated phone calls warn people that they will be arrested at the polls or that their poling places have moved… In an increasing number of states, such tricks are punishable by law.

Okay maybe I’m missing something here… but why is this being classified as mischief, rather than as voter fraud and interfering with people’s right to vote, and prosecuted as a federal crime?

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision, which barely made national headlines, could have far-reaching consequences: The Justices voted 6-3 to uphold a 2005 Indiana law requiring photo identification for voters, meaning the law will be in effect for next week’s Democratic primary.

The law’s stated purpose was to cut down on voter fraud. An inevitable consequence of the law is that it will keep many minorities and older people – who are less likely to have photo ID – from voting. The fact that the decision came eight days before the primary makes it less likely that many registered voters without photo ID will be able to get it in time.

The Indiana primary is expected to be a close one, and the disenfranchisement of large groups of voters can make a big difference. And this primary could help shape the entire election: If Barack Obama wins, Hillary Clinton is likely to drop out of the race, beginning the process of unifying the Democratic party and giving Obama a good chance of becoming the next president. If Clinton wins, she will certainly remain in the race, perhaps through August’s convention, weakening the party and giving John McCain a better chance of willing the general election.

So once again, though far more indirectly than in 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court might have chosen our next president.

“I respect the jury’s verdict; but I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison” -President Bush, redefining the word “respect”

Hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby would have to report to prison while appealing his conviction for lying to investigators and obstructing justice in the investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity, George Bush commuted his sentence.This technically wasn’t a pardon, a distinction we can expect to hear ad infinitum over the next few days: The former aide to Vice President Dick Chaney will still have to pay a $250,000 fine (which should be more than covered by the money his supporters raised for his defense) and remain on probation for two years (if he obstructs any more federal investigations between now and March 6, 2009 — or more practically between January 20 and March 6 — he’s in deep trouble).

This, Bush says, “leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby.”