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The Supreme Court delivered yet another crushing blow to voting rights on Tuesday night, issuing a 6–3 decision over the shadow docket that allows the state of Alabama to eliminate a congressional district currently held by a Black Democrat. In an unsigned opinion, the Republican-appointed justices dismissed a district court’s finding that the state had intentionally discriminated against Black Alabamians in violation of the 14th Amendment, weaponizing their recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais to also make most constitutional voting rights claims impossible to win. Their decision allows Alabama to implement a racist map that wipes out Black representation, hands Republicans another seat in the House of Representatives, and sows chaos and uncertainty for voters in the midst of an ongoing primary.

On a pop-up Slate Plus bonus episode of Amicus, co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discuss Tuesday’s ruling and how it exposes Callais’ disingenuous assurances that the court remains committed to multiracial democracy. A preview of their conversation, below, has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Dahlia Lithwick: The Supreme Court seems to be telling lower courts that it doesn’t matter what they think the vestiges of the Voting Rights Act or the 14th Amendment protect after Callais. Instead, these courts need to read the justices’ minds and understand what they’re really saying, which is that it’s all gone.

Mark Joseph Stern: This decision sends the very clear message that Callais didn’t just weaken the VRA. It stands for the proposition that there are no more Black voting rights, so courts should never, ever try to protect racial minority groups who are........

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