VOTING RIGHTS, SUPREME COURT
All Hail the Chief Justice?
Redistricting ruling is welcome; court’s direction uncertain
The June 8 Supreme Court ruling that Alabama must redraw its congressional map to allow more representation of Black voters was a surprising, but welcome, reinforcement of democracy. It will boost similar redistricting battles in Louisiana, Georgia and Texas.
“I’m excited about what it means for African-American voters in my state,” Rep. Terri A. Sewell, a Black woman who is the state’s lone Democrat in Congress, told reporters. “But I’m also excited about what it means for minority voters at large in this nation. They deserve fair representation and representation does matter.”
But let’s not be so quick to bestow laurels on Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the 5–4 Allen v. Milligan decision. After all, he and Justice Brett Kavanaugh simply joined the three liberals in upholding the bipartisan 1965 Voting Rights Act.
We don’t know if this decision is a public-relations maneuver or a true indication of court rethinking.
Kavanaugh, in his concurring opinion, said the Alabama map violated the law but suggested there be a time limit put on considerations of race in redistricting. That ignores the fact that there is no time…
