Olde Hornet
Well-Known Member
SHOCKING RULING!!! --- 
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Alabama's congressional maps, redrawn after the 2020 census, violate Section 2 of the landmark Voting Rights Act by diluting the influence of the state's Black voters.
The 5-4 decision, which effectively strikes down Alabama's GOP-drawn election map as illegal, came as a surprise to most court watchers after a series of rulings in recent years sharply rolled back protections against race discrimination under the law.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, affirmed a lower court ruling that found the existence of only a single majority-black congressional district denied roughly a quarter of the state's electorate an equal opportunity to select political candidates of their choosing.
Section 2, enacted in 1965 and later amended by Congress, says states cannot draw maps that "result in a denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color."
"We find Alabama's new approach to Section 2 compelling neither in theory nor in practice," Roberts wrote in an opinion joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
President Biden said in a statement that the decision "confirms the basic principle that voting practices should not discriminate on account of race," calling on Congress to shore up voting rights protections ahead of the next election.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Alabama's congressional maps, redrawn after the 2020 census, violate Section 2 of the landmark Voting Rights Act by diluting the influence of the state's Black voters.
The 5-4 decision, which effectively strikes down Alabama's GOP-drawn election map as illegal, came as a surprise to most court watchers after a series of rulings in recent years sharply rolled back protections against race discrimination under the law.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, affirmed a lower court ruling that found the existence of only a single majority-black congressional district denied roughly a quarter of the state's electorate an equal opportunity to select political candidates of their choosing.
Section 2, enacted in 1965 and later amended by Congress, says states cannot draw maps that "result in a denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color."
"We find Alabama's new approach to Section 2 compelling neither in theory nor in practice," Roberts wrote in an opinion joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
President Biden said in a statement that the decision "confirms the basic principle that voting practices should not discriminate on account of race," calling on Congress to shore up voting rights protections ahead of the next election.
