Opinion: Another Merrick Garland decision

Also: Making sense of the North Korea summit. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, June 12, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist Voting rights. Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision [on voting rights]( was another “Merrick Garland decision”— that is, a decision effectively made by the Senate’s refusal to let President Barack Obama fill a Supreme Court vacancy. Obama nominated Garland, a widely respected, moderate judge, in 2016, and the Senate ignored the nomination. In Garland’s place, President Trump later nominated, and the Senate confirmed, the deeply conservative Neil Gorsuch. In yesterday’s case — on Ohio’s aggressive purging of its voter-registration rolls — Gorsuch provided the swing vote supporting Ohio’s policy. There are going to be many more Merrick Garland decisions over the years, and [each one is an injustice](. They reward the Republican Party for its radical tactics. Yes, both parties deserve some blame for creating today’s extreme partisanship, but the Republican Party’s behavior has been [significantly worse](. With that being said, it’s important not to conflate the injustice of yesterday’s decision with its impact. And I think some discussion of the Ohio case exaggerated its likely effect. The Ohio law, to be clear, is a bad law. If an Ohioan neglects to vote in a single federal election, the state takes it as evidence that the person has moved and starts the process of canceling his or her voter registration. But the cancellation doesn’t take effect unless the person fails to respond to a mailed notice and fails to vote in three consecutive federal elections, spanning six years in all. The number of people who fall into this category and then attempt to vote — without re-registering — isn’t zero, but it’s not enormous, either. The Brennan Center for Justice, for example, filed [a well-argued brief]( against this Ohio law. Yet [Myrna Pérez]( one of Brennan’s voting experts, also told me yesterday, “Reasonable people can disagree on the consequences.” There are many other policies — like strict voter-ID laws, restrictive voting hours and long lines at polling-places — that do more damage than the Ohio law. I don’t like the law. I think it’s irrational and disproportionately affects minorities. I just think it’s important, especially with all the damage that Trump is doing, to keep bad policies in perspective. First, they came for the migrants. “We still talk about American fascism as a looming threat, something that could happen if we’re not vigilant,” [Michelle Goldberg writes](. “But for undocumented immigrants, it’s already here.” North Korea summit. The summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un ended with an agreement in which Kim “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” That might sound like a big deal. But as The Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum [notes]( the text “is remarkably similar to documents signed by US and NK in the 1990s. In the interim, NK developed a new generation of missiles and nukes.” You can view the similar language of past agreements, compiled by the nonproliferation expert Joshua Pollack, [here](. And as my colleague Nicholas Kristof [notes]( Trump’s agreeing to suspend military exercises with South Korea is a major concession. “Kim seems to have completely out-negotiated Trump, and it’s scary that Trump doesn’t seem to realize this,” he writes. The full Opinion report from The Times follows. From Our Columnists Op-Ed Columnist [Trump Was Outfoxed in Singapore]( By NICHOLAS KRISTOF The United States made important concessions to North Korea, and got nothing tangible. Op-Ed Columnist [A Quisling and His Enablers]( By PAUL KRUGMAN An anti-American president and the party that won’t lift a finger to stop him. Op-Ed Columnist [First They Came for the Migrants]( By MICHELLE GOLDBERG Authoritarianism can happen here. For some, it already has. Op-Ed Columnist [Donald Trump Is Not Playing by Your Rules]( By DAVID BROOKS The president brings low-trust politics to the Group of 7. [I Escaped North Korea. Here’s My Message for President Trump.]( By YEONMI PARK, LEAH VARJACQUES AND JAPHET WEEKS Yeonmi Park fled North Korea when she was 13. She is now fighting for the millions of other North Koreans still living under the oppressive regime of Kim Jong-un. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [The Best Model for a Nuclear Deal With North Korea? Iran]( By ANTONY J. BLINKEN It will be very difficult for President Trump to negotiate a deal with North Korea that is as good as the one Barack Obama negotiated with Iran. [Trump and Kim’s Secluded Singapore Pleasure Island]( By JAMES CRABTREE Best known for fake beaches, ornate hotels and real estate speculation, Sentosa now will play host to denuclearization talks with North Korea. Op-Ed Columnist [Trump and Kim Sign Up]( By PATRICK CHAPPATTE What will the future hold? Editorial [The Health Care Stalkers]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD The administration keeps threatening the Affordable Care Act, even as voters say health coverage is their biggest concern. [Will America Lose Canada?]( By STEPHEN R. KELLY Trump might think he can push around his northern neighbors. He’s wrong. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT More in Opinion [Why We Are So Vulnerable to Charlatans Like Trump]( By JOHN GANZ We may laugh at how people in the past fell for phony remedies — but we can fall for the same tricks. [Will the Rule of Law Apply Along the Border?]( By STEPHEN I. VLADECK Noncitizens facing “expedited removal” have less right to judicial review than Guantánamo detainees. [In Japan, Too, Outrageous Is the New Normal]( By KOICHI NAKANO How can the Abe administration weather so many scandals? [Can Turkey Overcome Its Bitter Factionalism?]( By JENNY WHITE Turkey remains bitterly divided because it has been unable to develop a unifying national identity that represents all of its citizens. [Reviving Supersonic Jets Will Damage the Climate]( By CARL POPE Entrepreneurs like Richard Branson hope to bring back SSTs for commercial use. It’s a bad idea. Fixes [A Worldwide Teaching Program to Stop Rape]( By TINA ROSENBERG Everywhere, the poorer a woman is, the likelier it is she will be raped. But an empowerment course is keeping women safer from sexual assault in poor countries as well as rich ones. [America Isolated]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD With insults and invective, President Trump walks away from the global economic and political order America helped to build over generations. [Is the World Cup for Nationalists or Citizens of the World?]( [Thiago Motta, left, a player for Italy, in June 2014, and Jimmy Greaves, right, a player for England, in July 1966.]( Thiago Motta, left, a player for Italy, in June 2014, and Jimmy Greaves, right, a player for England, in July 1966. Illustration by Antonio De Luca, Photos by Laurence Griffiths/Getty and AP Photo By KANISHK THAROOR In both soccer and life, you can be a proud representative of your home country while being incurably global. SIGN UP FOR OUR WORLD CUP NEWSLETTER Read [arguments and opinions]( on the social, political and economic issues around the World Cup, for football buffs and fair-weather fans alike. ADVERTISEMENT Letters [Trump’s Barrage Against the Allies]( Readers denounce the president’s behavior at the G-7 summit as “a national embarrassment” and express admiration for Canada. Letters [Robert De Niro’s Crude Rebuke of Trump at the Tony Awards]( Readers fear that the actor’s profane language just alienates Trump supporters, in contrast with Bruce Springsteen’s homage to his hometown. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). 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