Supreme Court Guts Voting Rights Act, Clears Way for Gerrymandering

The Republican justices just abolished 40 years worth of law protecting against rigged maps. Get yourself a man who loves you as much as Justice Samuel Alito loves partisan gerrymandering. The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which was handed down on Wednesday, was expected to deal a mortal blow to a longstanding federal rule that guarantees Black and Latino voters a minimum level of representation in some states, and Alito’s majority opinion in Callais unquestionably deals such a blow. But Alito, whose opinion was joined only by the Court’s Republicans, also goes much further. Callais is a cry of devotion to the idea that state lawmakers should be allowed to draw legislative maps that benefit their own political party, and that lock the opposing party out of power to the maximum extent possible. Callais’s immediate effect is that it removes what was, until Wednesday morning, one of the few remaining federal legal checks on gerrymandering: the Voting Rights Act’s provision governing racial gerrymanders. Prior to Wednesday, the Voting Rights Act sometimes required states to draw additional legislative districts where a racial minority group is in the majority. This billionaire could be California’s next governor — and he wants to arrest Stephen Miller Renewable energy just broke a 100-year-old streak Take a mental break with the newest Vox crossword Has Lena Dunham changed? Have we? The great 2028 Olympic ticket crashout, explained This is the title for the native ad The cognitive trap that’s making us underestimate the Iran crisis. Tom Steyer talks to Vox about using state power to fight the Trump administration. The official numbers are finally here. Trump’s revenge ploys are getting kookier. A ballroom and Jimmy Kimmel’s firing. The justices were concerned that the Trump administration is asking for too much in a major police surveillance case. This is the title for the native ad