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Court watchers speculate that #Alito, because he has not authored an opinion from the court’s term last October, is writing the majority opinion in a hugely important case the court has yet to rule on concerning the constitutionality of the last remaining section of the #VotingRightsAct. If that’s the case, the #VRA — and by extension, the fate of American #democracy — will be in very, very bad shape.
#law #SCOTUS #ElectionLaw #redistricting #gerrymandering #authoritarianism
#SCOTUS on Monday evening overturned a #NewYork state court ruling that found that the Staten Island-based district of #Republican US House Rep. Nicole Malliotakis discriminated against #Black & #Latino voters & needed to be redrawn. The Supreme Court’s intervention preserves a #GOP led seat that would have been likely to shift to #Democrats this November.
#law #democracy #VRA #ElectionLaw #redistricting #gerrymandering #authoritarianism
The court’s ruling sets a disturbing #precedent for #VotingRights in several ways. Federal courts are supposed to defer to #state courts on matters of state #law. And #SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that courts should not change election laws in the middle of an #election season, & in this instance the filing deadline for candidates in #NewYork has already passed.
#law #democracy #VRA #ElectionLaw #redistricting #gerrymandering #authoritarianism
In her dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices #KetanjiBrownJackson & Elena #Kagan, Justice Sonia #Sotomayor blasted the court’s conservative majority for using one set of rules to uphold #redistricting maps that benefit #white voters & #Republicans in states like #Texas while using a completely different set of rules to strike down maps that benefit racial “minorities” & #Democrats in places like #NewYork.
#law #SCOTUS #democracy #VRA #ElectionLaw #gerrymandering #authoritarianism
“Time & again, this Court has said that federal courts should not interfere with state-court litigation,” #Sotomayor wrote. “Time & again, this Court has said that federal courts should not meddle with state election laws ahead of an election. Today, the Court says: except for this one, except for this one, & except for this one.”
#law #SCOTUS #democracy #VRA #ElectionLaw #redistricting #gerrymandering #authoritarianism
The majority did not explain its reasoning, but most concerning was the concurring opinion by Justice Samuel #Alito, in which he wrote that districts drawn “for the express purpose of ensuring that ‘minority voters’ are able to elect the candidate of their choice” represented “unadorned racial discrimination, an inherently ‘odious’ activity that violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause except in the ‘most extraordinary case.’”
#Alito is essentially saying that districts drawn under the #VotingRightsAct or other federal & state laws to remedy centuries of racial #discrimination are as #racist as the #racism (including the legacy of #slavery & #JimCrow) they were meant to rectify.
#law #SCOTUS #democracy #VRA #ElectionLaw #redistricting #gerrymandering #authoritarianism
