Governor Greg Abbott recently passed a law allowing Texas Law Enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants. A first offense is a misdemeanor, subsequent offenses are felonies. Judges can drop charges for those willing to be deported. As one might imagine, the Mummified Meat Puppet Administration (MMPA) is suing Texas. Those redneck crackers can’t do that to our illegals! Only we can do that to our illegals, and we won’t.

There is a constitutional balance of powers issue involved, but the hypocrisy is blinding, as is this DC-area hypocrisy:

A Maryland county claims under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, it can create a school board seat that only illegal immigrants can vote for, according to reports.

The Washington Times reported that Howard County officials appeared before a federal court of appeals last month and defended its current process of having a school board seat occupied by a student, in which only public school students are allowed to vote for.

Only illegal immigrants?  One might wonder why people committing federal felonies by their mere presence are allowed to vote for anything, but that kind of thinking is so yesterday.

Some Howard County residents are challenging the practice on the basis of it being unconstitutional discrimination in voting, particularly against the county general electorate and students at religious schools who cannot vote for the student seat.

An attorney for the challengers, Michael Smith, told the publication it is a "zero-sum game." He explained that empowering students to choose one of the eight school board members takes away power from the general electorate.

Image: women practice voting in Dayton Oct. 27, 1920.

Wikimedia Commons.org.  Public Domain.

That would seem to be obvious, and at least one court agreed:

A lower court sided with the county and determined the process violates the First Amendment religious rights and 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause of those students who are shut out of voting.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though, questioned the decision, asking if a vote is not being taken, is it really an appointive process?

The appeals court also argued if it is not an appointment, but it is an election, the process gets tangled with voting rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

"You’ve got this additional seat that is not subject to the one-person, one-vote rule," Chief Judge Albert Diaz reportedly said. "That’s a problem."

Imagine that: judicial semi-sanity and at least potential recognition of the Constitution.

Judge A. Mavin Quattlebaum Jr. questioned what other populations may be eligible to have a school board member designated for them, particularly immigrants in the country illegally.

How about an old, annoyed white guy school board seat?  

"So, if Maryland decided, or the school board decided that undocumented aliens aren’t adequately represented, constitutionally could a board member be selected by undocumented aliens in town," Quattlebaum asked.

[County attorney Amy] Marshak said it would not go against the 14th Amendment.

"I think it would not violate the one-person, one-vote principle of the Equal Protection Clause," she reportedly said, though she questioned if additional parts of the law could come into play.

Just a moment there, Ms. Marshak! The Fourteenth Amendment gives illegals the right to vote?  They have a right to representation?  The Equal Protection Clause applies to people subject to immediate deportation?!  What’s the new rallying cry? “No illegal immigration without representation?” “One illegal, many votes?”

Maryland allows immigrants, even those in the country illegally, to vote in local elections if communities allow them to do so. At this time, though, no elections are reserved specifically for them.

No decision has been made, and both sides are waiting for the court of appeals to rule on the matter.

Maryland is essentially a DC suburb, so that nonsense makes DC sense, but shouldn’t such matters be simple?  No citizenship, no vote?  Somehow, I doubt I’ll be voting in Canadian or Mexican elections anytime soon. How much more electoral confusion can America stand?

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor and retired police officer and high school and college English teacher.  His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.