Tonight on All In with Chris Hayes: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made an unprecedented announcement Thursday that the Department of Justice will push back on the Supreme Court’s recent decision that crippled the Voting Rights Act. Speaking at the National Urban League Conference in Philadelphia, Holder said the DOJ is asking a federal court to require Texas to obtain federal approval before altering its voting rights laws. Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas and Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice Julie Fernandes, now Senior Policy Analyst at the Open Society Institute, will join Chris Hayes to talk about the attorney general’s proposal and what it means for voters’ rights in Texas.
Plus: Iowa Congressman Steve King is feeling the heat again Thursday from his fellow Republicans over his comments about illegal immigrants. The Congressman has been facing a backlash for suggesting that young immigrants are drug mules, saying, “for everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” House Speaker John Boehner spoke out strongly against Rep. King, calling his words “deeply offensive.” Young undocumented immigrants also responded to the controversial remarks Thursday, arriving at Rep. King’s office in caps and gowns with fresh cantaloupes in hand. msnbc Political Analyst and Bloomberg View Columnist Jonathan Alter will join the table to discuss King’s comments and how they have isolated him from his party.
Later, Chris Hayes will talk with former Baltimore Police Department Officer Peter Moskos, now a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, about race and the drug war in light of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s controversial comments on the topic Wednesday. O’Reilly argued that white Americans are enabling chaos in neighborhoods where there is drug-related violence by buying into the myth that white racism is to blame for these problems.
With former Congressman Anthony Weiner’s misconduct in the news again, Chris Hayes will also talk about the people on the other side of political sex scandals–the women, who are often exploited and discarded. Melissa Petro, a former sex worker, will join the table to discuss how men involved in these types of scandals get second chances, while the women are stigmatized by society.
Rachel Simon
Rachel Simon is a writer and editor based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the author of “Pickleball for All: Everything but the ‘Kitchen’ Sink.” Her work has been published in The New York Times, Glamour, Vulture, Teen Vogue and more. You can find her at @rsimon113. Recommended
