Supreme Court upholds Voting Rights Act — and might have helped doom Republicans in 2024
1 year, 6 months ago

Supreme Court upholds Voting Rights Act — and might have helped doom Republicans in 2024

Raw Story  

The Supreme Court stunned political observers on Thursday in the closely watched Allen v. Milligan case, ruling that Alabama likely violated the Voting Rights Act's prohibition on racial gerrymandering when it drew a map that packs most of the state's Black voters into a single congressional district — and the decision could make it harder for Republicans to hold the House of Representatives in 2024. The ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by all three liberal members of the court along with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, was a surprise to court watchers, who had expected the Court to weaken the Voting Rights Act protections and find Alabama's map permissible. Lower courts have both ruled those maps unconstitutional; the Supreme Court put the Louisiana decision on hold, and has agreed to review South Carolina's map. Redrawing congressional districts in Southern states to increase Black voting power would almost certainly have the added effect of electing more Democratic representatives to these states, experts say.

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Supreme Court to hear case challenging Louisiana’s second majority-Black district
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Supreme Court to hear case challenging Louisiana’s second majority-Black district

Politico  

After a long, winding legal battle — which included a lower court finding in 2022 that the original map likely violated the VRA — the state legislature drew a new map that created a second majority-Black district in the state. The state, joined by civil rights groups that support the new map, appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking permission to …

Fight to restore Black voters’ strength could dismantle Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment
3 months, 1 week ago

Fight to restore Black voters’ strength could dismantle Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment

Associated Press  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A coalition of voting rights groups is pointing to a voter-approved amendment to argue Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the state constitution when he dismantled a Black congressional district, but if they lose the case, the Fair Districts Amendment itself could also be tossed out. “Will the whole FDA have to go?” In 2010, Florida voters …

Voting group asks S. Carolina court to order redraw of US House districts that lean too Republican
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Voting group asks S. Carolina court to order redraw of US House districts that lean too Republican

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A group that works to protect and expand voting rights is asking South Carolina’s highest court to order lawmakers to redraw the state’s U.S. House districts because they lean too far Republican. South Carolina’s congressional map was upheld two months ago in a 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said the state General Assembly did not use …

Proposal to create a new political mapmaking system in Ohio qualifies for November ballot
5 months ago

Proposal to create a new political mapmaking system in Ohio qualifies for November ballot

Associated Press  

Follow live: Updates from AP’s coverage of the presidential election. COLUMBUS, Ohio — A proposal to change Ohio’s troubled political mapmaking system has qualified for November’s statewide ballot, the state’s elections chief announced Tuesday. Retired Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, who presided over the high court during the legal battle, called the certification “a historic step towards restoring …

Mississippi can wait to reset legislative districts that dilute Black voting strength, judges say
5 months ago

Mississippi can wait to reset legislative districts that dilute Black voting strength, judges say

Hindustan Times  

— Mississippi can wait until next year to redraw some of its legislative districts to replace ones where Black voting power is currently diluted, three federal judges said Thursday. Mississippi can wait to reset legislative districts that dilute Black voting strength, judges say The decision updates a timeline from the judges, who issued a ruling July 2 that found problems …

Mississippi must move quickly on a court-ordered redistricting, say voting rights attorneys
5 months, 1 week ago

Mississippi must move quickly on a court-ordered redistricting, say voting rights attorneys

Hindustan Times  

— Mississippi should work quickly to fulfill the court-ordered redrawing of some legislative districts to ensure more equitable representation for Black residents, attorneys for voting rights groups said in a new court filing Friday. Mississippi must move quickly on a court-ordered redistricting, say voting rights attorneys The attorneys also said it's important to hold special elections in the reconfigured state …

Mississippi must move quickly on a court-ordered redistricting, say voting rights attorneys
5 months, 1 week ago

Mississippi must move quickly on a court-ordered redistricting, say voting rights attorneys

Associated Press  

— Mississippi should work quickly to fulfill the court-ordered redrawing of some legislative districts to ensure more equitable representation for Black residents, attorneys for voting rights groups said in a new court filing Friday. The attorneys also said it’s important to hold special elections in the reconfigured state House and Senate districts on Nov. 5 — the same day as …

Mississippi election officials argue against quick work on drawing new majority-Black districts
5 months, 1 week ago

Mississippi election officials argue against quick work on drawing new majority-Black districts

Associated Press  

— Redrawing some Mississippi legislative districts in time for this November’s election is impossible because of tight deadlines to prepare ballots, state officials say in new court papers. Attorneys for the all-Republican state Board of Election Commissioners filed arguments Wednesday in response to a July 2 ruling by three federal judges who ordered the Mississippi House and Senate to reconfigure …

US Supreme Court sends Arkansas redistricting case back to judges after South Carolina ruling
6 months, 2 weeks ago

US Supreme Court sends Arkansas redistricting case back to judges after South Carolina ruling

Associated Press  

The Supreme Court on Monday sent a lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ 2021 U.S. House map back to a three-judge panel, ordering it to review the suit in light of the high court’s decision against similar claims of bias in a redistricting case from South Carolina. A three-judge panel last year dismissed the suit, which claimed the redrawn map violated the U.S. …

Kagan Gives Fiery Dissent On SCOTUS Ruling Allowing Racial Gerrymandering
7 months ago

Kagan Gives Fiery Dissent On SCOTUS Ruling Allowing Racial Gerrymandering

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority Thursday to allow South Carolina to proceed with its gerrymandered map of congressional districts led to a blistering dissent by Justice Elena Kagan, who argued that the redistricting was designed to weaken Black voters’ influence. The 6-3 ruling, led by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, overturns a lower court …

Clarence Thomas Makes a Full-Throated Case for Racial Gerrymandering
7 months ago

Clarence Thomas Makes a Full-Throated Case for Racial Gerrymandering

Slate  

The Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision on Thursday in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP is a devastating blow to the fight against racial gerrymandering. And yet, as bad as Alito’s opinion was, it didn’t go far enough for Justice Clarence Thomas, who penned a solo concurrence demanding a radical move: The Supreme Court, he argued, should overrule every precedent that limits …

Supreme Court OKs shift of Black voters to shore up GOP congressional district
7 months ago

Supreme Court OKs shift of Black voters to shore up GOP congressional district

LA Times  

At issue in the South Carolina case was a congressional district in the Charleston area held by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a state’s mapmakers may shift tens of thousands of Black voters to a different district if they were seeking to shore up a partisan advantage for a Republican candidate. In a 6-3 decision, …

Supreme Court orders Louisiana to use congressional map with additional Black district in 2024 vote
7 months, 1 week ago

Supreme Court orders Louisiana to use congressional map with additional Black district in 2024 vote

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Louisiana to hold congressional elections in 2024 using a House map with a second mostly Black district, despite a lower-court ruling that called the map an illegal racial gerrymander. “We are very relieved that SCOTUS agreed with us that it’s too close to the election to insert uncertainty.. We will have a …

Supreme Court upholds new Black-majority district in Louisiana that may elect Democrat to Congress
7 months, 1 week ago

Supreme Court upholds new Black-majority district in Louisiana that may elect Democrat to Congress

LA Times  

Supreme Court justices were acting on emergency appeals from civil rights lawyers as well as Louisiana’s Republican leaders. The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a decision by two Trump-appointed judges in Louisiana and restored a state election map that may allow Black voters to elect a Democrat to Congress this fall. In a separate case last year, the Supreme …

The U.S. Supreme Court upholds Louisiana's redistricting plan
7 months, 1 week ago

The U.S. Supreme Court upholds Louisiana's redistricting plan

NPR  

The U.S. Supreme Court upholds Louisiana's redistricting plan Enlarge this image toggle caption Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The U.S. Supreme Court has for all practical purposes upheld a new congressional redistricting plan in Louisiana that provides for a second majority-Black district. At the same time that the court upheld the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district in …

Judges Reject Map That Would Have Given Louisiana New Majority-Black House District
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Judges Reject Map That Would Have Given Louisiana New Majority-Black House District

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING NEW ORLEANS — A new congressional district map giving Louisiana a second majority-Black House district was rejected Tuesday by a panel of three federal judges, fueling new uncertainty about district boundaries as the state prepares for fall congressional elections. Polling takes place at the Martin Luther King Elementary School in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans …

Louisiana won’t immediately get a new majority-Black House district after judges reject it
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Louisiana won’t immediately get a new majority-Black House district after judges reject it

Associated Press  

NEW ORLEANS — A new congressional map giving Louisiana a second majority-Black House district was rejected Tuesday by a panel of three federal judges, fueling new uncertainty about district boundaries as the state prepares for fall congressional elections. Jeff Landry and Murrill had backed the new map in a January legislative session after a different federal judge threw out a …

The Supreme Court is asked to pause a ruling against Louisiana's congressional map
7 months, 3 weeks ago

The Supreme Court is asked to pause a ruling against Louisiana's congressional map

NPR  

The Supreme Court is asked to pause a ruling against Louisiana's congressional map Enlarge this image toggle caption Gerald Herbert/AP Gerald Herbert/AP The state of Louisiana and a group of Black Louisiana voters have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put a hold on a lower court order that is blocking Louisiana from using the state's new congressional map for …

New Black congressional district in Louisiana bows to politics, not race, backers say
8 months ago

New Black congressional district in Louisiana bows to politics, not race, backers say

Associated Press  

NEW ORLEANS — Politics and race are both factors in a pending court challenge of Louisiana’s new congressional maps. The map creates a new mostly Black congressional district in Louisiana, at the expense of a white Republican incumbent, Rep. Garret Graves, who backed another Republican in the governor’s election last fall. Twelve self-described non-African American voters argued in a lawsuit …

South Carolina to hold 2024 congressional elections with map previously ruled unconstitutional
8 months, 3 weeks ago

South Carolina to hold 2024 congressional elections with map previously ruled unconstitutional

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A federal court on Thursday ruled that this year’s congressional elections in South Carolina will be held under a map that it had already deemed unconstitutional and discriminatory against Black voters, with time running out ahead of voting deadlines and a lack of a decision on the case by the Supreme Court. After South Carolina’s Legislature, which …

Attorneys argue over whether Mississippi legislative maps dilute Black voting power
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Attorneys argue over whether Mississippi legislative maps dilute Black voting power

Hindustan Times  

— Mississippi legislators diluted the power of Black voters by drawing too few majority-Black state House and Senate districts after the most recent Census, an attorney representing the NAACP and several residents told three federal judges Monday. HT Image But during opening arguments in a trial of the redistricting case, an attorney representing state officials told the judges that race …

Attorneys argue over whether Mississippi legislative maps dilute Black voting power
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Attorneys argue over whether Mississippi legislative maps dilute Black voting power

Associated Press  

— Mississippi legislators diluted the power of Black voters by drawing too few majority-Black state House and Senate districts after the most recent Census, an attorney representing the NAACP and several residents told three federal judges Monday. But during opening arguments in a trial of the redistricting case, an attorney representing state officials told the judges that race was not …

Judge: Louisiana legislative districts dilute Black voting strength, violate the Voting Rights Act
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Judge: Louisiana legislative districts dilute Black voting strength, violate the Voting Rights Act

Associated Press  

NEW ORLEANS — New state House and Senate boundary lines drawn up by the Louisiana Legislature in 2022 dilute Black voting strength in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act, a federal judge in Baton Rouge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick’s ruling blocked the use of the House and Senate district maps in future elections and gave the …

Court cases lead to new voting districts in some states. Could it affect control of Congress?
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Court cases lead to new voting districts in some states. Could it affect control of Congress?

Associated Press  

Since most Americans last voted for Congress, thousands of people have been added to certain voting districts — and subtracted from others — under new political maps enacted following court rulings. But that equation could flip to Democrats’ favor depending on what happens in an ongoing effort to reshape New York’s congressional districts. The Republican-led General Assembly in October approved …

A lawsuit seeks to block Louisiana’s new congressional map that has 2nd mostly Black district
10 months, 3 weeks ago

A lawsuit seeks to block Louisiana’s new congressional map that has 2nd mostly Black district

Associated Press  

NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Legislature’s redrawn congressional map giving the state a second mostly Black district is being challenged by 12 self-described “non-African American” voters in a new lawsuit. The challenge filed Wednesday and assigned to a judge in Lafayette says the map, which Republican lawmakers agreed to as a result of a 2022 federal lawsuit filed in Baton …

A federal court declines to revisit a ruling that could weaken the Voting Rights Act
10 months, 3 weeks ago

A federal court declines to revisit a ruling that could weaken the Voting Rights Act

NPR  

A federal court declines to revisit a ruling that could weaken the Voting Rights Act Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Wong/Getty Images Alex Wong/Getty Images A federal appeals court has denied a request to revisit a ruling that could undermine a key tool for enforcing the Voting Rights Act's protections against racial discrimination in the election process. It's the …

After a court fight, Louisiana's new congressional map boosts Black political power
11 months ago

After a court fight, Louisiana's new congressional map boosts Black political power

NPR  

After a court fight, Louisiana's new congressional map boosts Black political power Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael Johnson/The Advocate/Pool via AP Michael Johnson/The Advocate/Pool via AP BATON ROUGE, La. A federal court had given Louisiana's legislature until Jan. 30 to redraw its map in compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act, forcing lawmakers to add a second majority-Black district. …

Louisiana lawmakers pass new congressional map with second majority-Black district
11 months ago

Louisiana lawmakers pass new congressional map with second majority-Black district

Associated Press  

— The Louisiana Legislature passed a congressional map with a second majority-Black district on Friday, marking a win for Democrats and civil rights groups after a legal battle and political tug-of-war that spanned nearly two years. During the special session this week, Landry has repeatedly urged the Legislature to adopt a new map that would satisfy the court, instead of …

Proposed Louisiana congressional map, with second majority-Black district, advances
11 months, 1 week ago

Proposed Louisiana congressional map, with second majority-Black district, advances

Associated Press  

— A proposed Louisiana congressional map with a second majority-Black district, which could deliver another U.S. House seat to Democrats, received bipartisan support and advanced through a legislative committee Tuesday. GOP state Rep. Glen Womack, who filed the legislation, said that race was not the “predominate factor” in deciding where the new boundaries would lie, but rather “politics drove this …

3 novel legal arguments by Republicans that threaten the Voting Rights Act in 2024
11 months, 2 weeks ago

3 novel legal arguments by Republicans that threaten the Voting Rights Act in 2024

NPR  

3 novel legal arguments by Republicans that threaten the Voting Rights Act in 2024 Enlarge this image toggle caption Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images The Voting Rights Act had a roller-coaster year in the courts in 2023, and legal challenges to the landmark law are set to continue this year. While critics have been challenging …

Federal judge accepts redrawn Georgia congressional and legislative districts that will favor GOP
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Federal judge accepts redrawn Georgia congressional and legislative districts that will favor GOP

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — A federal judge on Thursday accepted new Georgia congressional and legislative voting districts that protect Republican partisan advantages, saying the creation of new majority-Black voting districts solved the illegal minority vote dilution that led him to order maps to be redrawn. McBath said in a statement that she wouldn’t “allow an extremist few Republicans” to “decide when my …

Wisconsin Supreme Court orders new legislative maps in redistricting case brought by Democrats
1 year ago

Wisconsin Supreme Court orders new legislative maps in redistricting case brought by Democrats

Associated Press  

MADISON, Wis. — The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Republican-drawn legislative maps on Friday and ordered that new district boundary lines be drawn as Democrats had urged in a redistricting case they hope will weaken GOP majorities. “Because the current state legislative districts contain separate, detached territory and therefore violate the constitution’s contiguity requirements, we enjoin the Wisconsin Elections Commission …

North Carolina’s election maps for 2024 are racially biased, advocates say in lawsuit
1 year ago

North Carolina’s election maps for 2024 are racially biased, advocates say in lawsuit

Associated Press  

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina voting-rights advocates sued Tuesday to overturn all of the redistricting plans drawn by Republicans and being used starting with the 2024 elections, saying legislative leaders unlawfully weakened the electoral influence of Black voters. “The General Assembly targeted predominantly Black voting precincts with surgical precision throughout the state in drawing and enacting the 2023 Plans, at …

Groups want full federal appeals court to revisit ruling limiting scope of the Voting Rights Act
1 year ago

Groups want full federal appeals court to revisit ruling limiting scope of the Voting Rights Act

Associated Press  

— Progressive advocacy groups in Arkansas on Monday asked a full federal appeals court to reconsider a three-judge panel’s ruling that private groups can’t sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act. Circuit Court of Appeals after a panel ruled 2-1 last month that only the U.S. attorney general can enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights …

Georgia lawmakers send redrawn congressional map keeping 9-5 Republican edge to judge for approval
1 year ago

Georgia lawmakers send redrawn congressional map keeping 9-5 Republican edge to judge for approval

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — For Georgia Democrats who didn’t get what they want out of a special legislative session to redraw voting districts, their retort Thursday was simple: “We’ll see you in court.” State lawmakers on Thursday completed a special session with the House voting 98-71 to give final passage to a congressional map that preserves a 9-5 edge for Republicans in …

Georgia lawmakers advance congressional map keeping 9-5 GOP edge; legislative maps get final passage
1 year ago

Georgia lawmakers advance congressional map keeping 9-5 GOP edge; legislative maps get final passage

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Brushing aside concerns that they may be breaking law that protects coalitions of nonwhite voters, Georgia state senators on Tuesday passed a new congressional map that would maintain a likely 9-5 GOP edge in the state’s delegation. Senators voted 32-21 to give final passage to a new state House map, despite Democrat concerns that the map harmed minority …

New North Carolina congressional districts challenged in federal court on racial bias claims
1 year ago

New North Carolina congressional districts challenged in federal court on racial bias claims

Associated Press  

N.C. — North Carolina Black and Latino voters sued in federal court on Monday seeking to strike down congressional districts drawn this fall by Republican state legislators that they argue weaken minority voting power in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in central North Carolina challenges four districts where the plaintiffs contend GOP leaders …

Louisiana granted extra time to draw new congressional map that complies with Voting Rights Act
1 year ago

Louisiana granted extra time to draw new congressional map that complies with Voting Rights Act

Associated Press  

— Louisiana lawmakers now have until the end of January to draw and pass new congressional boundaries to replace a current map that a federal judge said violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of the state’s Black voters. Baton Rouge-based U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick issued a two-week extension Thursday afternoon, giving lawmakers extra time to construct …

Appeals court takes DeSantis’ side in challenge to a map that helped unseat a Black congressman
1 year ago

Appeals court takes DeSantis’ side in challenge to a map that helped unseat a Black congressman

Associated Press  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Legislature didn’t violate the state constitution when it approved congressional maps pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that helped the GOP replace a Black Democratic representative with a white conservative, an appeals court ruled Friday. The 1st District Court of Appeal reversed a lower court’s ruling that the map that rewrote U.S. Rep. Alan Lawson’s …

Opinion: The outlandish ruling that could eviscerate what’s left of the landmark Voting Rights Act
1 year ago

Opinion: The outlandish ruling that could eviscerate what’s left of the landmark Voting Rights Act

LA Times  

If a decision handed down by a conservative federal appeals court last week is allowed to stand, it will gut what remains of one of the most important federal laws enacted in my lifetime, the Voting Rights Act. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits state and local election practices and systems from discriminating against voters of color. This …

Georgia Senate Republicans propose map with 2 new Black-majority districts
1 year ago

Georgia Senate Republicans propose map with 2 new Black-majority districts

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia Senate Republicans are proposing a new map that would create two Black-majority voting districts, but would probably retain Republicans’ 33-23 edge in the General Assembly’s upper chamber, in an effort to fix a map a judge said illegally dilutes Black votes. A special session on redrawing state legislative and congressional districts is scheduled to begin Wednesday after …

Wisconsin Supreme Court Hearing Arguments On Redistricting That Could Result In New Maps For 2024
1 year, 1 month ago

Wisconsin Supreme Court Hearing Arguments On Redistricting That Could Result In New Maps For 2024

Huff Post  

FILE - A man walks by the Wisconsin Capitol, Oct. 10, 2012, in Madison, Wis. Supporters of Wisconsin's taxpayer-funded school choice and independent charter school programs urged the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is located inside the state Capitol, on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, to reject a lawsuit seeking to declare the programs unconstitutional, saying such a move would create chaos …

Louisiana lawmakers have until Jan. 15 to enact new congressional map, court says
1 year, 1 month ago

Louisiana lawmakers have until Jan. 15 to enact new congressional map, court says

Associated Press  

— The Louisiana Legislature has until Jan. 15 to enact a new congressional map after a lower court last year ruled that the current political boundaries dilute the power of the state’s Black voters, a federal New Orleans appeals court said Friday. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick said in her ruling that “evidence of Louisiana’s long and ongoing history of …

John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh Are Rigging the Supreme Court Docket
1 year, 1 month ago

John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh Are Rigging the Supreme Court Docket

Slate  

This is part of Opening Arguments, Slate’s coverage of the start of the latest Supreme Court term. Last June, Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh shocked observers by joining the court’s three liberal justices to reject an Alabama congressional map aimed at diluting Black voters’ power. On the other hand, focusing on the decision obscures a disturbing reality: …

Georgia says it will appeal a judge’s redistricting decision but won’t seek to pause ruling for now
1 year, 1 month ago

Georgia says it will appeal a judge’s redistricting decision but won’t seek to pause ruling for now

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia says it will appeal a judge’s order to redraw some congressional and state legislative districts, but that it won’t fight in court to pause the order for now, meaning a special session later this month to draw new lines is likely to proceed. A federal judge ruled last week that some of Georgia’s congressional, state Senate and …

Judge says Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts are discriminatory and must be redrawn
1 year, 1 month ago

Judge says Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts are discriminatory and must be redrawn

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — A federal judge ruled Thursday that some of Georgia’s congressional, state Senate and state House districts were drawn in a racially discriminatory manner, ordering the state to draw an additional Black-majority congressional district. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, in a 516-page order, also ordered the state to draw two new Black-majority districts in Georgia’s 56-member state Senate and …

The Supreme Court refuses to speed the drawing of a new congressional map in Louisiana
1 year, 2 months ago

The Supreme Court refuses to speed the drawing of a new congressional map in Louisiana

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an emergency appeal from Black voters in Louisiana to speed the process of drawing new congressional districts in the state. The appeals court said U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick was moving too fast and must give the state more time to consider a new map. Civil rights groups had hoped a new …

The Supreme Court on voting rights and gerrymanders: if you draw racist maps make sure you call them partisan.
1 year, 2 months ago

The Supreme Court on voting rights and gerrymanders: if you draw racist maps make sure you call them partisan.

Slate  

In this week’s big voting rights case, Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, the Supreme Court heard arguments concerning whether to uphold a South Carolina congressional map that is avowedly partisan. In arguments on Wednesday, it became clear that the high court’s conservatives would rather toss out the evidence the lower court used to reach its decision, …

Samuel Alito Really, Really, Really Wants to Save This Racial Gerrymander in South Carolina
1 year, 2 months ago

Samuel Alito Really, Really, Really Wants to Save This Racial Gerrymander in South Carolina

Slate  

This is part of Opening Arguments, Slate’s coverage of the start of the latest Supreme Court term. According to past precedent, overturning the factual findings of that panel—including its weighing of the voluminous evidence and testimony of expert witnesses—would require the Supreme Court to find “clear error” in the district court’s findings. It appeared things might be going toward that …

The Supreme Court signals support for a Republican-leaning congressional district in South Carolina
1 year, 2 months ago

The Supreme Court signals support for a Republican-leaning congressional district in South Carolina

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed likely to preserve the Republican hold on a South Carolina congressional district against a claim that it treats Black voters unfairly. The court’s six conservative justices signaled skepticism with a lower court ruling that ordered South Carolina to redraw a coastal district that is held by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace. Kavanaugh and …

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