🚨 By a 6-3 vote, SCOTUS halts a lower court order that struck down Louisiana's racial gerrymander

[In It to Win It]

PRETEND TO BE SHOCKED!

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Mark Joseph Stern
@mjs_DC

NEW: By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court halts a lower court order that had struck down Louisiana's racial gerrymander. All three liberals dissent.

A federal judge found that Louisiana's new congressional map diluted the votes of racial minorities in violation of the Voting Rights Act, and the 5th Circuit declined to halt that ruling. Now the Supreme Court has stepped in to put the ruling on hold.

Although nearly a third of Louisiana's population is Black, Republicans' new congressional map gives Black voters control over just one of six congressional districts.

The Supreme Court has now effectively ensured that this map will remain in place for the 2022 elections.

The new map, which the Supreme Court just reinstated, packs Black voters into a single district, diluting their political power in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. But the far-right justices have effectively repealed that provision already.

SCOTUS Just Blew Up the Voting Rights Act’s Ban on Racial Gerrymandering

Here's a link to the order; the liberal justices noted their dissents but did not write. https://supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/062822zr1_9ol1.pdf


The majority also granted cert and will hold the case until it formally eviscerates the Voting Rights Act's ban on racial gerrymandering next term.

Remember: The Supreme Court is not just *allowing* states to pass racial gerrymanders; it's also *prohibiting* states from increasing representation for racial minorities. It claims that increasing Black voting power violates the equal protection clause.

The Supreme Court’s Astonishing, Inexplicable Blow to the Voting Rights Act in Wisconsin

Here is the upshot of the Supreme Court's shadow docket decisions on the Voting Rights Act: The far-right majority has effectively struck down the ban on racial gerrymandering without full briefing or oral arguments, on the basis of a future ruling that it has not yet issued.

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[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. Fully expected it. This SC term going out in a blaze of fuckery!

[uponit7771]

2. omfg

[Bettie]

3. So, they are fully overturning the Voting Rights act

and the next few months will see red state frantically making laws to ensure that there is one polling place per state and only Republican elected officials may cast a ballot. (Sarcasm, but not entirely...)

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. So how do we vote our way out of this one?

[Evolve Dammit]

5. Really good question

[In It to Win It]

6. More senators and more representatives who are willing to

strip the court of some of it's jurisdiction

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. That doesn't answer my question.

[In It to Win It]

9. vote for more senators and reps...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. Good luck with that, I guess!

[edhopper]

15. Do you not understand

that the Court just said Louisiana can make it so more Republicans get elected. No matter how people vote?

How do we get more Democratic Reps in States that put their fingers on the scale?

[edhopper]

12. Good question.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

18. A couple of ways

(1) Get enough power in Congress to pass a new voting rights act.
(2) Get a referendum at the state level to ban gerrymandering. These have tended to pass in red and blue states alike.

I don't know how Dems ended up in such a small minority in LA. Biden got 40% of the vote there. If the Dems had even 1/3 of either house in LA, they could have upheld Gov. Edwards's (D) veto of the original map.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. Okay but the "getting," how is that done?

[BlueCheeseAgain]

21. Well, we need to hold the House and get two more Senators at the federal level.

At the state level, it looks like Louisiana doesn't have a voter initiative process, so that won't work.

Using state laws to stop gerrymanders has been more successful that at the federal level, where the hostile Roberts court has said that federal courts can't do anything about it. It's the basis for the big wins we had in PA and NC in recent years.

[Tickle]

8. wow they are on a roll

to say the least. My head is still spinning from Friday

[BlueCheeseAgain]

10. I kind of expected this.

Roberts and the conservatives have been extremely hostile to voter rights cases.

[In It to Win It]

13. ...which doesn't make sense, but I won't pretend SCOTUS makes sense.

because they referred to the "people's representatives" in the Dobbs case, meanwhile Congress has the express power of regulating elections... which they did with the VRA, and they gutted it.

[Lovie777]

11. They seem to be rushing . ..

But alas, the fat lady has not sung yet

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Scalia's ghost. Before he died he was making overtures to legitimize discrimination.

Looks like that's where the Conservative Supreme Court decided to lead us.

[spanone]

16. ...and this is how democracy ends?

criminal laws upheld by a criminal court

[moondust]

17. MAGA like 1860!!!!