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Supreme Court Strikes Down Key Part of Voting Rights Act — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday effectively struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by a 5-to-4 vote, ruling that Congress had not provided adequate justification for subjecting nine states, mostly in the South, to federal oversight.
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Texas voter ID law “will take effect immediately,” says Attorney General Greg Abbott — update: The Texas DPS will start issuing voter IDs on Thursday. More below — WASHINGTON — The implications of today's landmark ruling could be swift and stunning.


Justice Ginsburg Slams Supreme Court's ‘Hubris’ In Fiery Dissent On Voting Rights Act — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg penned the fierce dissent against the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision Tuesday to invalidate a key section of the Voting Rights Act, accusing the conservative justices of displaying “hubris” and a lack of sound reasoning.
Discussion:
The Daily Banter


On Voting Rights, A Decision As Lamentable as Plessy or Dred Scott — Splitting 5-4 along ideological lines, today the Supreme Court ruled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. — Let's be clear about what has just happened. Five unelected, life-tenured men …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, NewsBusters, Washington Free Beacon, Politico, Guardian, The Plum Line and Outside the Beltway

A Civil-Rights Victory — The Supreme Court's decision today to overturn a small part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is actually a victory for civil rights. As the court noted, what made sense both in moral and practical terms almost a half century ago has to be approached anew.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, msnbc.com, ThinkProgress, Power Line and New York Times


The Supreme Court's Voting Rights Decision Is a Poison Chalice for the GOP — This morning, the Supreme Court struck down a core part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, “a landmark law that opened the polls to millions of southern blacks,” as Bloomberg's Greg Stohr put it.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Yahoo! News, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Fix and The Dish


That Was Quick: Texas Moves Forward With Voter ID Law After Supreme Court Ruling
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Libertarian Republican, Yahoo! News, Trail Blazers Blog, ThinkProgress and The Maddow Blog

Goodbye to the Crown Jewel of the Civil Rights Movement
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Left Lives in the Past on Voting Rights
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Ed Driscoll

NC voter ID bill moving ahead with Supreme Court ruling
Discussion:
WDAM-TV, msnbc.com and ThinkProgress

Opinion recap: Voting law in deep peril
Discussion:
Mother Jones, RH Reality Check, The Maddow Blog, Outside the Beltway, PrawfsBlawg and ImmigrationProf Blog

Southern Republican Senators Happy That Supreme Court Designated Their States Not-Racist
Discussion:
The Fix and Balloon Juice

Supreme Court guts key part of landmark Voting Rights Act
Discussion:
USA Today, Politico, SCOTUSblog, Naked DC and How Appealing

Supreme Court makes historic voting rights law harder to enforce
Discussion:
Washington Post, BizPac Review, his vorpal sword, Weasel Zippers and The Moderate Voice

Voting Rights Act Section 4 Struck Down By Supreme Court
Discussion:
Wonkblog, BBC, New York Times, TechCrunch, The Daily Banter, Rare and Twitchy

Obama Outlines Ambitious Plan to Cut Greenhouse Gases — WASHINGTON — President Obama proposed a sweeping plan to address climate change on Tuesday, setting ambitious goals and timetables for a series of executive actions to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and prepare the nation for the ravages of a warming planet.
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Reuters, Politico, Washington Examiner, USA Today, New Republic, E2-Wire, Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, Guardian, Forbes, Watts Up With That?, The Huffington Post, Weasel Zippers, ThinkProgress, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Yahoo! News, National Review, Washington Free Beacon, AEIdeas, BuzzFeed, The Gateway Pundit, ABC News, Yale Environment 360, Mediaite, Michelle Malkin, susiemadrak.com, Booman Tribune, Post Politics, Shakesville, Conservatives4Palin, Heritage Action for America, msnbc.com, Mother Jones, Daily Kos and Jammie Wearing Fools
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Obama: Keystone XL Should Not Be Approved If It Will Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will ask the State Department not to approve the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline unless it can first determine that it will not lead …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, The Plum Line, ThinkProgress, New Republic, Taylor Marsh, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Yahoo! News, Daily Kos and Weekly Standard

Statement on President Obama's Remarks on the Climate Crisis — This was a terrific and historic speech, by far the best address on climate by any president ever. I applaud the new measures announced by President Barack Obama this afternoon to help solve the climate crisis …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, PoliticusUSA, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story and Political Capital

Obama mocks skeptics of climate change as ‘flat-Earth society’
Discussion:
Politico, Weasel Zippers, Naked DC and Jammie Wearing Fools


Full Transcript of Obama's Remarks on Climate Change
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon

Is Obama waging a ‘war on coal’?
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hot Air, Co.Exist, neo-neocon and CBS News

Obama unveils climate change plan that goes around Congress
Discussion:
Wonkblog, The Hill, Heritage Action for America and The Raw Story


Greenwald: Snowden's Files Are Out There if ‘Anything Happens’ to Him — Snowden has shared encoded copies of all the documents he took so that they won't disappear if he does, Glenn Greenwald tells Eli Lake. — As the U.S. government presses Moscow to extradite former National Security …
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Putin: Snowden still in Moscow airport, won't be extradited, free to go anywhere — Russia's President says former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is still in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. Vladimir Putin says that any accusations of Russia related to Snowden are “nonsense and rubbish.”


Stephens: The Age of American Impotence
Discussion:
Reuters, Questions and Observations, American Power and msnbc.com

Treaty Cheating — Russia is engaged in a major violation …
Discussion:
Sense of Events


Did Justice Alito roll his eyes while Justice Ginsburg was speaking? — Garrett Epps and Dana Milbank think so. — Milbank says “Alito visibly mocked his colleague”: … Epps: … I don't trust the descriptions of Epps and Milbank. Maybe we could get some more discussion of the meaning …
Discussion:
RH Reality Check, Above the Law and FishbowlDC
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Justice Samuel Alito's middle-school antics — The most remarkable thing about the Supreme Court's opinions announced Monday was not what the justices wrote or said. It was what Samuel Alito did. — The associate justice, a George W. Bush appointee, read two opinions …


Why I'm voting no on immigration reform — I will be voting no on the Senate's Gang of Eight immigration bill for one simple reason: because the legislation does not secure the border first. — The American people desperately need immigration reform. Unfortunately, this legislation does not do the job.
Discussion:
The Hill, Weasel Zippers, First Read, National Review and Hit & Run
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Anthony Weiner Surges to Lead in Democratic Mayoral Race: NBC NY/WSJ/Marist Poll — The poll finds Weiner with 25 percent and Quinn with 20 percent among registered Democrats — Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has surged ahead of his opponents in a new NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal poll …
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Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and Taegan Goddard's …

5 Senators Who Support Immigration Bill Don't Know Answer to Key Question About It — Obamacare poses a tricky problem for supporters of the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill. It would be too politically toxic to give illegal immigrants amnesty and taxpayer subsidies under Obamacare …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Washington Free Beacon


Dems Approach Abortion Victory as Special Session Wanes … Texas Democrats, far outnumbered by Republicans in both the House and the Senate, are nonetheless on the verge of killing one of the most restrictive abortion proposals in the nation — at least for now.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, msnbc.com, Taking Note, Taylor Marsh, CBS Dallas, Reuters, Gawker, New Republic, Off the Kuff and Trail Blazers Blog

Documents Show Liberals in I.R.S. Dragnet — WASHINGTON — The instructions that Internal Revenue Service officials used to look for applicants seeking tax-exempt status with “Tea Party” and “Patriots” in their titles also included groups whose names included the words “Progressive” and …