The Supreme Court ignores past and current reality to gut the Voting Rights Act

On what planet is our reactionary Supreme Court living? Do we have a court that would deny the universally accepted facts that Blacks in the South were denied a representative vote before and after the 15th Amendment of 1870 and before and after the Voting Rights Act of 1965? And who can deny that the vote is key to full political equality in a multi-racial society? 

In Louisiana v. Callais, decided April 29, the court’s reactionary majority did not invalidate the Voting Rights Act — it relegated the measure to the dustbin of history. Does anyone remember how hard Lyndon Johnson worked to bring the act over the line; how many chits he called with members of Congress, how many arms he twisted?  

Biographer Robert Caro viewed Johnson’s passage of Voting Rights Act as his “greatest achievement.” He used his legislative skill and genuine conviction to force the legislation through Congress. Although scores of civil rights bills had passed the House, not one had passed the Senate because of the power of the southerners who chaired most of the Senate committees.

The court came to its 6-3 decision, with an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito. At issue was whether the Louisiana electoral map was racially discriminatory. Alito stated that from now on, anyone who wished to challenge a map on such grounds must show proof that the map makers had “intentionally” drawn legislative districts to disadvantage a given racial group, even if such a discriminatory result is the outcome. 

What evidence would satisfy Alito of discriminatory intention? Videotapes of legislators wearing white sheets as they drew the lines?

Gerrymander is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to disadvantage the party out of........

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