The "now-completed demolition" of the law could take us back to the Jim Crow era.

The Supreme Court’s six-to-three Republican-appointed majority issued a staggering ruling on Wednesday essentially killing the remaining protections of the Voting Rights Act, dealing a death blow to the country’s most important civil rights law. The majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito in Louisiana v. Callais strikes down the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana and in so doing narrows Section 2 of the VRA to the point of irrelevance, making it nearly impossible to prove that a gerrymandered map violates the right of voters of color.

“Because the Voting Rights Act did not require Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district, no compelling interest justified the State’s use of race in creating SB8, and that map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander,” Alito wrote. “The Constitution almost never permits a State to discriminate on the basis of race, and such discrimination triggers strict scrutiny.”

  • Rhaedas@fedia.io
    381·
    15 days ago

    We’ve had impartial computerized methods of creating fair districts for decades. It doesn’t benefit those in power, who are the ones who would have to approve it.

    A group should be formed, independent of state or federal, to form districts every few years based on population movement. If a party is disadvantaged by the makeup within that district, then they’ll just have to work harder to try and sell themselves as a better choice. The role of a representative is a representation of that area, and should reflect their needs. Not some bigger party goal that needs the numbers.