REHNQUIST AND MINORITY VOTERS

During William Rehnquist's 1986 confirmation hearings as Chief Justice, James Brosnahan, a former assistant US Attorney in Phoenix, recalled on Election Day 1962 receiving complaints that Republican poll watchers were aggressively challenging black and Hispanic voters without legal basis. Investigating complaints against a GOP pollwatcher at a precinct in south Phoenix, he discovered the culprit was Rehnquist. Rehnquist denied to the Judiciary Committee that he ever harassed or challenged voters. "That does not comport with my recollection of the events I witnessed in 1962," Brosnahan testified. The witness was brought to the committee by the Nation Institute's Supreme Court Watch. His testimony has a contemporary relevance in light of the Supreme Court's ruling that a recount in Florida would deny equal protection of the law while complaints by minority voters being turned away from the polls in Florida on Election Day by the same sort of harassment continue to mount (to read James Brosnahan's full testimony go to www.thenation.com).

REMEMBERING DANIEL SINGER

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 75 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.