Taking the Good With the Bad

Some good news this week:

The House yesterday easily approved an extension of key provisions of the landmark Voting Rights Act, after GOP leaders quelled a rebellion within the party's Southern ranks that threatened to become a political embarrassment.

Before the 390 to 33 vote to extend the measure for a quarter-century, the House defeated four amendments that would have diluted two expiring provisions and possibly derailed final passage before the November congressional elections.

And some more in the Georgia photo ID controversy:

With less than two weeks to go before the July 18 primary, a Superior Court judge on Friday issued a restraining order blocking enforcement of Georgia's voter ID law.

"The Court finds the current statute unduly burdens the fundamental right to vote rather than regulate it and irreparable harm will result if the 2006 Photo ID Act is not enjoined," Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland wrote.

Of course, Republicans can't accept allowing more people to vote:

Georgia's attorney general on Monday filed an emergency appeal of a judge's order blocking enforcement of the state's voter photo ID law in next week's primary elections.

Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker filed the motion in the Georgia Supreme Court on behalf of Gov. Sonny Perdue, according to Richard Diguette, a spokesman for Georgia's high court. The motion seeks to stay a temporary restraining order issued Friday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland.