[August 29, 2014] An interesting case is working its way through the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Apparently, Guam has a Decolonization Registry that discriminates along racial lines. A person living in Guam has sued the government saying he was not allowed to register because he was not a “native inhabitant.” Guam’s race-based restrictions on the registry do not prevent voting in normal political elections.1 However, given the recent racial incidents in the United States, leaders are unusually sensitive to anything that uses race to restrict the rights of people.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Referred to as the “Davis Case” the government appears to be in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.2 This will be an interesting case to follow. Interesting not for the legal precedents that may come from a decision but from how senior leaders treat it publically. Senior political leaders will have to discuss the race-based restrictions at some point. How this is done will be a significant lesson in how to deal with sensitive political issues. Over the next few weeks it will eventually be referred to by the press at a White House press conference. The press will be interested, as we all should be, on how the President thinks about race-based restrictions.
Regardless of the side any political leader takes, their message should be simple and clear.
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[2] http://editionwww.mvguam.com/local/news/36671-us-judges-hear-local-cases.html#.VABXO3l0yUm