September 6, 2006

U.S. District Judge Kathleen O'Malley and U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz

The horrifying threat to democracy posed by privately owned electronic voting machines and software often obscures another key GOP vote fraud tactic: the illegal denial of the right to vote through the implementation of voter suppression regulations and outright intimidation.

This sort of anti-Constitutional activity was supposed to have gone the way of slavery.

But, such tactics played a crucial role in denying tens of thousands of Al Gore voters the right to cast ballots in Florida in 2000 -- and since then the Republicans have been on a rampage to bring back “Jim Crow” laws and actions wherever they can get away with it. They used this tactic to great effect in Ohio in the 2004 presidential race.

Fortunately, some courageous judges are upholding the Constitution and resisting the neo-Confederacy tactics of the GOP.

This week, BuzzFlash honors U.S. District Judge Kathleen O'Malley and U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz for upholding the right to vote in Ohio and Florida, respectively. These two states, through voter suppression, played crucial roles in installing Bush in the White House twice.

Judges O'Malley and Seitz could be said to just be doing their jobs. But in this day and age when the Republican Executive Branch and Congress believe that only activist GOP partisan hacks should be on the bench, standing up for the Constitution and voting rights is an act of courage.

So, we are proud to honor U.S. District Judge Kathleen O'Malley and U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz as winners of the BuzzFlash "Wings of Justice Award."

They are protecting the precious right of every American adult: the right to elect our government.

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Nominated by Andrea Pulaski of Cayucos, California

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