(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- Last month the Department of Justice announced it was suing the State of Georgia over its new election law. And on Monday, House Republicans filed an amicus brief urging the court to dismiss the case which they argue is without merit.
The amicus brief was filed by 57 Republican House members with the help of Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. In it, they cite the elections clause of the Constitution which gives state legislatures “broad authority” to regulate the time, places and manner of elections.
Frankly, it is somewhat surprising that only 57 Republican lawmakers signed on to this amicus brief.
One of the Republicans who did, Georgia Congressman Rick Allen, told Fox News that the Biden DOJ’s lawsuit against Georgia is one more example of the “ongoing effort to federalize elections” in the same way that the Democrats’ “For the People Act” is. Allen argues that Congress has a responsibility to stand with the Constitution and defend the authority of the states to “conduct and administer elections.”
Georgia’s election law expands voter ID requirements to include those voting by absentee ballot. It also limits ballot drop boxes to one per county or one per 100,000 voters. However, it also expands early voting days and standardizes early voting hours to a minimum of 9 am to 5 pm, or a maximum of 7 am until 7 pm.
The law also places more election authority into the hands of the state legislature, allowing the General Assembly to select the chair of the state elections board instead of the Secretary of State. It also shortens the duration of runoff elections from nine weeks to four.
Last week Georgia filed a motion to dismissed on what it referred to as the DOJ’s “politicized intrusion into the State of Georgia’s constitutional authority to regulate the ‘time, place and manner’ of its elections.” Georgia also argued that the measures the DOJ is claiming are “discriminatory” and “racist” are the same measures found in several traditionally blue states.
In its dismissal motion, Georgia contents that the DOJ’s complaint is nothing more than “political posturing” rather than a “serious legal challenge.”
A sentiment on which many legal experts agree.
