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In-Depth Interview: Greg Palast Updates Kris Kobach’s Court Defeat, Supreme Court’s OK of Voter Caging

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Investigative reporter Greg Palast returns to update Kris Kobach’s stinging defeat in federal court, and the Supreme Court’s approval of voter caging–purging people from registration for failing to vote and/or return a postcard.Palast is the author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and producer/reporter of the documentary film of the same name.  Get full info here.

Through the ACLU of Kansas, Palast was a party to the suit challenging Kobach’s law, which required proof of citizenship to vote.  The Republican-appointed judge slammed Kobach for bad courtroom moves, and sentenced him to legal summer school.  And she threw out his law, ruling that he had the opportunity to prove that non-citizens have voted, and failed.

Palast advises that we not dismiss Kobach, who was schooled at Harvard, Yale and Oxford.  He is the architect of GOP voter suppression schemes, and has often achieved his goals.  He’s running for Governor of Kansas this year.

We also discuss the badly-reasoned Supreme Court decision regarding purging of the Ohio voter rolls by its GOP Secretary of State, Jon Husted.  The majority opinion, written by Justice Alito, argues that Ohio voters who didn’t respond to a postcard asking them to confirm their address most likely had moved.  But the dissent by Justice Breyer noted that only about 4% of Americans move each year, but Ohio sent notices to about 20% of registered voters.  Palast backs him up, saying Ohio officials can use tax records and other public information–including post office notifications of changes of address–to identify voters who have moved.

Asked if Kobach has mastered “dog-whistle” politics like Trump. Palast agrees, and offers some smart comments about Trump’s recent moves on immigration.