A new system of local government in rural areas (zemstvo) was enacted with a right to found schools for the peasantry, which were now free.
NCLB was enacted with a remarkable degree of bipartisan support, but over time it lost most of its fans, and it's not an exaggeration to say that by the end it was detested by many people in the education world.
The judges found that the Congressional map as a whole was enacted with a "discriminatory purpose," and they cited the concerns of black and Hispanic members of Congress who testified that they were excluded from the process of drafting the maps.
The Fifth Circuit agreed that Texas's law "has a discriminatory effect in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act," overturned the holding that the law "is a poll tax," and, most significantly, ordered Ramos to reconsider her holding that the law "was enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose".
Taxes, foreign policy, and civil-rights laws are all ultimately enforced with the threat of physical violence (that's the nature of government), but most of their regulations are enacted with a pen and put into practice with well, with what?
It's a good bet, though, that the issue would be tied up in court if a law requiring sites like Amazon to collect sales tax were enacted, with a challenge centering on whether federal laws regarding interstate commerce would supersede the state measure.
"I am appalled and disgusted that D.O.J. would abandon their claims, that they have advocated for years, that Texas' photo ID law was enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose," said J. Gerald Hebert, a lawyer who represents several of those who sued Texas, including the League of United Latin American Citizens and Marc Veasey, a Democratic Texas congressman who is African-American.
This plan would enable President Obama to present the country with a real and coherent reform that could be enacted with 51 votes and to avoid a reconciliation process fraught with difficulties and imponderables.
