Why Hillary Clinton is going after voter ID laws
The former (and future?) presidential candidate just made her most overtly political speech since stepping down as the nation's top diplomat
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended a self-imposed political hiatus on Monday, slamming Republican-backed voter ID laws in a biting speech in San Francisco.
Clinton said the Supreme Court in June had done serious damage with its landmark Voting Rights Act ruling, which cleared the way for states with a history of discrimination to tighten voting laws without federal approval. She also denounced voter ID laws pushed through by state legislatures controlled by the GOP, saying they were being justified as tools to fight the "phantom epidemic of voter fraud," but really just made it harder for minorities and the poor to exercise their voting rights. She referred to North Carolina's new election rules, which were signed into law by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory this week, as the "greatest hits of voter suppression."