Obomination: DOJ Ordered to Pay Litigation Fees for SC Voter ID Challenge

Judges ordered the United States Department of Justice, as one of the losing parties in the South Carolina voter ID law challenge, to pay the Palmetto State’s litigation fees.  The entire amount spent by South Carolina to defend its common sense voter ID law was $3.5 million.

How did the case costs and attorneys’ fees amount to such a hefty price tag?  The Department of Justice filed numerous motions that were frivolous, including even challenging the font which was a normal 12-point size.  The DOJ also needlessly delayed the case 120 days through such motions.  

Mark Powell, the spokesman for South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson said, “The Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., bears responsibility for the litigation costs… South Carolina was forced to pay a hefty price because a handful of Washington insiders refused to do the right thing.”

The right thing would have been for the DOJ to grant preclearance to South Carolina’s law, especially since nonpolitical career attorneys would have been approved the law but were overruled by DOJ political appointees bent on Obama’s progressive agenda.  Now, Senator Lindsey Graham and Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina are requesting the internal memo from staff attorneys recommending that the voter ID law not be blocked. 

The DOJ’s denial of preclearance – using inaccurate data days and issued days before Christmas in 2011– pushed South Carolina to file a lawsuit in a D.C. court to get a fair hearing. 

Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s misplaced “aggression” against voter ID laws makes American taxpayers—who actually support voter ID in large majorities—the real losers in these political games.

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