Mastodawn

#SCOTUS is hearing arguments Wednesday over a core provision of the #VotingRightsAct that is designed to protect racial minorities.

Lawyers for #Louisiana & the #Trump admin [the first admin ever to challenge the law] will try to persuade the justices to wipe away the state’s 2nd majority Black congressional district & make it much harder, if not impossible, to take account of #race in #redistricting.

#law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy
https://apnews.com/live/supreme-court-voting-rights-arguments-updates?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2025-10-15-Live+updates

Live updates: Supreme Court hears arguments over the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Wednesday over a core provision of the Voting Rights Act that is designed to protect racial minorities.

AP News

Roberts & #Kavanaugh are the ones to watch

Along with the three liberal justices, #JohnRoberts & Brett Kavanaugh were part of a surprising decision two years ago that required #Alabama to redraw its congressional districts to benefit Black voters and led to the new map in #Louisiana as well.

The outcome likely will be different if either justice votes differently this time around.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

4 lawyers will present arguments to the court

But only one is defending the #Louisiana congressional map with 2 majority #Black districts.

That will be #CivilRights lawyer Janai Nelson, representing the Black voters who sued when the state initially produced a map with just one majority Black district.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

The other lawyers are the #Trump administration’s deputy solicitor general, Hashim Mooppan, #Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga & Edward Greim, the lawyer for the #white voters who sued over the map with 2 majority #Black districts.

Louisiana switched sides after the court ordered new arguments.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

Arguments underway in #SCOTUS #VotingRightsAct case

#JohnRoberts first called on Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to present her argument. Nelson is representing Press Robinson & other #Black #Louisiana voters.

Nelson argues her opponents “seek stagging reversal of precedent that would throw maps across the country into chaos.”

#law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

#ClarenceThomas has been questioning section 2 almost since he joined the court in 1991

The questioning begins with Thomas. His long-held view that drawing districts with #race in mind violates the #Constitution. Until now, that view has never commanded a majority of the court.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

Early debates center on 1986 Gingles ruling

Justices questioned Nelson on the “Gingles test,” which dates from a 1986 court ruling resulting in the invalidation of North Carolina legislative districts & yielded more single-member districts in state legislatures.

“You look at how different races of voters vote & whether they vote in a way that is polarized,” Nelson said, responding to a question about considering partisan & race in drawing districts.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #WhiteSupremacy

“We’re talking about racially polarized voting that is above 84%, which is more than what this court found in Thornburg v. Gingles in 1986,” Nelson said.

A bit of political/legal jargon repeatedly came up early in Wednesday’s voting rights oral arguments.

“Packing & cracking” refers to a practice by the party in power, which tries to pack Black voters into condensed areas, then divide them.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

When it comes to redrawing districts in #Louisiana, the argument by plaintiffs is that #Republicans are seeking to condense the #Black vote then dilute it by dividing them among districts.

Justice Jackson brings up a 2023 case from #Alabama where #SCOTUS upheld the #VotingRightsAct.

Nelson’s argument seems to suggest, “We not revisit the determination that we made just 2 years ago,” Jackson said.

“That is absolutely correct,” Nelson responded.

#law #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

#Kavanaugh, one of the key justices to watch in this case, questions whether there might be a point where the country no longer needs to take #race into account in drawing voting districts.

“The issue, as you know, is that this court’s cases, in a variety of contexts, has said that race-based remedies are permissible for a period of time … but that they should not be indefinite & should have an end point,” he said.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

In a back-and-forth with Nelson about time limits, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that the #VotingRightsAct section in question, “doesn’t need a time limit, because it’s not doing any work other than just pointing us to the direction of where we might need to do something.”

Nelson said it would be “reckless” to determine, “somehow if Section 2 is no longer needed simply because it has been so successful in rooting out racial discrimination in voting.”

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA

Asked by Justice #Sotomayor to delineate differences between the current case & a 2023 decision that dealt with affirmative action, Nelson argued that the prior case “involved the diversity rationale involving an admissions process with a university, not a statute.”

In 2023, #SCOTUS struck down #AffirmativeAction in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor & forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

#law #VotingRights

The court’s conservative majority effectively overturned cases reaching back 45 years in invalidating admissions plans at Harvard & the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private & public colleges, respectively.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

Now the justices will hear from J. Benjamin Aguiñaga, #Louisiana’s solicitor general. The state is no longer defending the disputed map.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

#Gorsuch appeared skeptical of Nelson’s argument, pressing her on how & when race can be used in the drawing of maps. His questions cut to the heart of the questions the justices are considering today.
“You’re saying sometimes acceptable for a federal district court to order a map that intentionally discriminates on the basis of race?” he asked. The #Louisiana maps at issue today weren’t drawn by a judge, but courts can order maps re-drawn under the #VRA.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #CivilRights

Nelson pushed back. It’s not #discrimination for states to keep race in mind as they draw voting districts to comply with the #VRA & ensure representation for minority votes, she argued.

Under questioning from Justice Elena #Kagan, Nelson describes as “catastrophic” the impact of Secton 2 of the #VotingRightsAct ceasing to prevent vote dissolution, including in legislative districts beyond #Congress.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

“We only have the diversity that we see across the South, for example, because of litigation that forced the creation of opportunity districts under the #VotingRightsAct,” Nelson said.

“It is an intervention that has been crucial to diversifying leadership & providing an ability of minority voters to have an equal opportunity to participate in the process, she adds.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

Then an important caveat: “But it also isn’t a permanent remedy. It corrects itself over time, & it’s only triggered when those extreme conditions exist.”

Benjamin Aguiñaga is now arguing for the state. He’s the state’s solicitor general and is considered a rising star in conservative legal circles. He’s defending the states position that could bring major changes to the #VotingRightsAct.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

“The #Constitution does not tolerate this system of of government-mandated racial balancing,” Aguiñaga said. “I respectfully but firmly resist the premise that this comes to the court on a finding of specific discrimination by the state.”

Questioning Aguiñaga about the role of race in #redistricting, #Sotomayor says it’s always a factor.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

Of the case’s 6 #white plaintiffs, #Sotomayor said that “no one’s stopping them from participating in the voting process,” adding that “the state is stopping #Black voters from doing that in many districts, because it’s packing them into areas that whites overwhelm them.”

Beginning his remarks, the #Louisiana solicitor general opened with the suppositions of what he called a “stereotyping system” that assumes one #Black voter would vote like another.

#SCOTUS #law #CivilRights #WhiteSupremacy

Justice #Sotomayor is pressing #Louisiana’s lawyer about the state’s change in position from the first iteration of the case. The state previously told the court that lawmakers drew congressional boundaries primarily with #politics in mind, not #race. The map protected high-profile lawmakers, including Speaker #MikeJohnson, a Republican whose district is in the state.

#SCOTUS #law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

FinchHaven sfba Oct 15

"“The #Constitution does not tolerate this system of of government-mandated racial balancing,” Aguiñaga said."

It should be pointed out that conservatives' beloved #Constitution did not include anyone but white male Anglo-Saxon Christians as citizens in the first place

A minor detail that conservatives always seem to miss

#SCOTUS #Law #VotingRights #VRA #CivilRights #ActivistCourt #WhiteSupremacy

Platypusman Oct 15

@Nonilex I can imagine Kavanaugh saying to his buddies “I don’t even think about someone’s race anymore, is that even a thing?”, and then laughing out loud.

FinchHaven sfba Oct 15

"The questioning begins with Thomas. His long-held view that drawing districts with #race in mind violates the #Constitution."

Also Clarence Thomas:

"I've got mine, too bad so sad you can't get yours."

Pēteris Krišjānis Oct 15

@FinchHaven @Nonilex I just love how turns out SCOTUS is all just vibes. Very strong system they have there.

(((JaneinNJ)))Oct 15

@FinchHaven @Nonilex He never ceases to amaze.

IamSheilaat91 Oct 15

@Nonilex @Compassionatecrab keep in mind that when Clarence Thomas looks in the mirror he sees a white man.

Darwin Woodka Oct 15

@sheilasmall @Nonilex @Compassionatecrab or just wonders why those stains won't wash off

(((JaneinNJ)))Oct 15

@Nonilex The fact that they’re even hearing this case is so vile.