More Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Reviewing his floor remarks from the House Daily Digest, I now note that he said the following, in addition to the previously quoted remarks: "Americans do not have the explicit right to vote in their Constitution. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore ruled: 'The individual citizen has no Federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States.' So at present, voting in the United States is a State right, not a citizenship right." He calls voting a "State right [that] is not a citizenship right, but a right defined and protected by each State and limited to each State."

Jesse is wrong, and disingenuous, in his conclusion. It is incorrect for him to say that the Court concluded that "voting . . . is a state right." The Amendments to the Constitution are full of references to the right to vote. The 15th Amendment states that "[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The 19th Amendment states that "[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." The 26th Amendment states that "[t]he right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age."

Nothing in the Constitution prevents citizens from voting for city council members, state representatives, or even presidential ellectors, if permitted. Possibly, Jackson intended to discuss the right to vote for president. But his remarks are not so limited. Voting for, or selecting, presidential electors is a task assigned to the state legislatures. It is wrong to say that voting, as a general matter, is not a citizenship right.

It is perfectly fine to debate whether this is the proper way to select the president. My previous posts, and my personal opinion, reflect that the present system is the best way to preserve the dual sovereignty of our federal republic between the sovereign state governments and the federal government. But Jackson's inaccurate statement during yesterday's debate is not a constructive way to engage in, or to begin, a healthy, spirited, and intellectually honest debate over the manner in which the president is selected.