Kennedy Asks Mukasey for Review of Voting Rights Chief

Last week Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) called for the Justice Department’s voting rights chief John Tanner to be fired. And in written questions to attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey this week, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) asked Mukasey to review Tanner’s record and consider whether he ought to be canned.

In the question, Kennedy noted Tanner’s reasoning that voter ID laws actually discriminate against whites because “‘minorities don’t become elderly the way white people do.'” The “remarks display a shameful lack of understanding and sensitivity that is unacceptable in the person charged with enforcing the nation’s laws against voting discrimination,” he wrote.

Tanner will appear before a House judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday, where he’s sure to be questioned about those remarks, others where he said that African-Americans tend to carry picture ID because of racial profiling, and his role in whitewashing a Justice Department review of Columbus, Ohio voting problems in the 2004 election and forcing through approval of a controversial voter ID law in Georgia — among other things. It’s not going to be a fun hearing for Tanner. The chairman of that subcommittee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), called on Tanner to resign yesterday.

“The Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division has failed miserably in its responsibility to enforce the Voting Rights Act during this Administration,” Sen. Kennedy said in a statement. “The latest shameful revelations from the Section drive home the urgent need for the next Attorney General to install strong leadership to allow the Voting Section to return to its historic role in ensuring access to the ballot.”

Kennedy’s question to Mukasey is below.

During your hearing, Senator Cardin asked you about the Civil Rights Division’s approval of a 2005 Georgia photo ID law over strong objections by career professionals that the law would have a discriminatory impact on minority voters. That 2005 law was enjoined by a federal court as having the effect of a Jim-Crow era poll tax, and the injunction was upheld by the Eleventh Circuit. The Georgia legislature abandoned the 2005 law, and passed a new version the following year. The Washington Post reported that Mr. Tanner dismissed concerns over the racially discriminatory impact of photo ID laws in recent public remarks to the National Latino Congreso, suggesting that such laws affect the elderly, but not minorities because “minorities don’t become elderly the way white people do. They die first.” These remarks display a shameful lack of understanding and sensitivity that is unacceptable in the person charged with enforcing the nation’s laws against voting discrimination. These comments only underscore the Voting Section’s troubling record under Mr. Tanner. If you are confirmed, will you review Mr. Tanner’s record and consider whether he should be replaced as head of the Voting Section?