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Our JT Cestkowski reports on the breaking news on the Supreme Court striking down Louisiana’s voting map under the rational that its lawmakers had illegally prioritized race when creating a new majority-Black district (WATCH HIS REPORT ABOVE).
In the 6-3 decision, conservative justices minimized the ruling, claiming it kept in tact the central provisions of the Voting Rights Act; in dissent, liberals argued the conservative justices all-but gutted the remaining glue that held together the landmark civil rights law.
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, wrote the decision “renders Section 2 all but a dead letter”—a reference to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which for decades has forbidden discrimination in voting along the lines of race.
Kagan argued that the decision will make it impossible to consider race when politicians draw out congressional maps, thus setting back “the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity.”
She added that the decision"can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power.”
The decision has already launched a political blitz among Republicans to redraw congressional lines in various states in order to dilute the impact of Black voters—who have traditionally been a loyal voting bloc for the Democratic Party.
