2. 考研
  3. The Obama administration won a victory today in their campaign to strike down voter ID laws. Only days after the United States D

The Obama administration won a victory today in their campaign to strike down voter ID laws. Only days after the United States D

admin2015-03-25  41
问题     The Obama administration won a victory today in their campaign to strike down voter ID laws. Only days after the United States District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated Texas’s new congressional and legislative districts, the same court struck down the state’s voter ID law. The court accepted the Justice Department’s arguments that the bill placed an undue burden on poor and minority voters. Texas has said it will appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court and its attorney general says he can prevail there because the court has previously ruled that voter ID laws are constitutional. State courts have upheld a voter ID law in Pennsylvania but Texas’ problem is that because of its past history of racial discrimination, it must get federal approval for anything relating to voting rights. But those looking for the Supremes to reinforce their previous decision on voter ID may be disappointed. The issue at stake in the Texas case will be the constitutionality of the federal Voting Rights Act that gives Washington the power to oversee the state’s laws rather than voter ID itself.
    In states not affected by the Voting Rights Act, courts can weigh efforts to prevent fraud on their own merits. The overwhelming majority of Americans back voter ID laws because they are inherently reasonable. Given that, voter fraud has always been a concern in American politics; the courts have upheld such laws as both prudent and obviously constitutional.
    But under the Voting Rights Act, anything that even inadvertently affects minority voters, even if the purpose is constitutional and the impact incidental can be interpreted as a violation of the law. Thus, attorneys for Texas were given the impossible task of being forced to defend their state. Only a Supreme Court decision striking down the entire Voting Rights Act can prevent the Obama administration from stopping voter ID in Texas.
    Proponents of voter ID can rightly assert that any comparison is an outrageous distortion of the truth. Minority voters are just as capable of getting themselves a free state ID card, as are whites. Anyone capable of registering to vote can do so. Unless opponents of these laws are prepared to argue that officials have no right to ask a prospective voter to prove his identity or even his citizenship, the charge of discrimination doesn’t hold water.
    But the bottom line in the Texas case is that since it is unlikely that the Supreme Court will strike down the entire Voting Rights Act, the administration will be able to stop voter ID in the Lone Star State. A true test of the constitutionality of such laws will have to wait for other challenges to make their way to the high court.
Which of the following about Texas is TRUE?
选项 A、It is the new congressional and legislative district.
B、Its voter ID law is against the American constitution.
C、It discriminated the minority groups in the past.
D、Washington doesn’t have the power to oversee its voter ID law.
答案C
解析 事实细节题。根据选项中的congressional and legislative大致可以定位至第一段。该段第五句明确交代，宾夕法尼亚州通过了《选民身份证法案》，但德州由于种族歧视的历史问题，其法案被联邦政府否决了，因此[C]正确。本段第二句还表明，德克萨斯州国会和立法行政区的新地位被推翻，因此[A]不正确；第四句表明，《选民身份证法案》是符合宪法的，但由于德州的特殊历史，使得任何有关选举权的事宜都必须得到联邦政府的批准，故排除[B]；该段最后一句表明，《联邦选举权法案》让华盛顿有权监督德州的法律，故排除[D]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/ZyFRFFFM
0

考研英语一

相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)