WASHINGTON (AP) – A neutering by the Supreme Court of the Voting Rights Act’s last remaining major provision would potentially trigger a political avalanche – an event that starts narrow but gathers momentum as it spreads across the national map.
Supreme Court case could lead to loss of Black representation in Congress, but the scope is unknown
WASHINGTON (AP) – A neutering by the Supreme Court of the Voting Rights Act’s last remaining major provision would potentially trigger a political avalanche – an event that starts narrow but gathers momentum as it spreads across the national map.
In this case, the benefit would be to Republicans seeking to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives, perhaps for many years to come.
Such a change seemed more plausible Wednesday after the court’s conservative majority indicated a willingness to limit race-based districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The landmark civil rights law requires the drawing of legislative districts that allow minorities to select representatives of their choosing. That has created majority-Black and Latino districts that vote reliably Democratic in some of the nation’s most conservative states.
Plaintiffs in one of those states, Louisiana, brought the case before the high court after the state was ordered by a federal judge to redraw its congressional map to include a second majority-Black district, one that was won by a Democrat last year. If the plaintiffs win their case, it could turn that district back into one likely to be represented by a Republican and possibly even eliminate its other Democratic seat, which also was mandated under the Voting Rights Act.