New Orleans        You have to be kidding?  The US Supreme Court just established a new bar for total partisanship.  This time it was in Virginia, where a bunch of them live – and vote.  Essentially, they were doing a favor for their own beleaguered Republican governor. Who cares what the law says clearly enough for a second-grader to read?

Governor Youngkin, once thought to be an up-and-comer on the Republican side, has fallen from grace, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t try to curry favor with the hard right once again.  Given the conservative conniption about whether noncitizens are voters, beginning in August he started waving that flag too, even though there has never been any evidence established that this is real issue that affects elections, even if one or another have stumbled into the polls to vote, usually by happenstance.

           Youngkin tried to purge 1600 voters in Virginia.  He and his team claimed that about one-thousand had marked themselves with the Department of Motor Vehicles with a green card or a visa at some point in the past, but now had registered to vote as citizens.  The other 600 or so marked themselves as noncitizens at the DMV.  Youngkin sued to purge them from the rolls.  The lower federal court said, “no can do.”  The federal appeals court agreed with the Justice Department and others, saying, “no way.”  The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) is clear that there can be no purges within the period 90-days before a federal election.  Open and shut.

That is until Virginia appealed to the Supreme Court to open this can of worms.  In the so-called “shadow” docket, where they make decisions without rhyme, reason or explanation, they allowed this purge to go forward, despite the clarity of the law.  There was a note that Justices Kagan, Jackson, and Sotomayor would have voted to continue to halt the program, inferring the too common 6-3 split.

The Court will hide behind the fact that they are reinstating Virginia’s program temporarily, meaning they may look at this again, even though it is moot then, except for the lasting damage it might do in future elections to encourage more last minute purges, regardless of the law.  Virginia also claimed it gave these 1600 two weeks to try to sort it out.  Theoretically, with same day registration in Virginia, aggrieved voters handled unjustly, can show up and register on Election Day as well, even if the chances are slim.

Whatever happens on Election Day, this is more evidence that the proverbial “rule of law” matters little in this highly partisan court, so we have to hope nothing of consequence for this election comes before them or we’re in deep, deep trouble.