Tag

Voting Rights Act

All articles tagged with #voting rights act

politics18 days ago•21 min saved

Voting Rights Then and Now: From 1965 Act to Today's Battleground

Heather Cox Richardson reminds readers that the Voting Rights Act, signed on August 6, 1965, followed a long arc from Reconstruction amendments and federal enforcement against white supremacist obstruction to protect Black voting rights; she details how later Supreme Court decisions and recent cases have narrowed those protections and boosted suppression in some states, while studies show persistent and widening gaps in turnout—echoing Lyndon Johnson’s pledge that the vote is the core right without which democracy falters.

via Letters from an American | Heather Cox Richardson | Substack|

#american-history #civil-rights-movement #oops

politics1 month ago•4 min saved

South Carolina lands first 2028 Democratic primary slot after DNC vote

South Carolina won a bid to host the first Democratic presidential primary in 2028 after the DNC Rules & Bylaws panel narrowly favored it over Nevada, a decision framed by debates over race, representation, and Voting Rights Act implications. The plan would sequence contests as South Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia, pending full DNC ratification, with NH and possibly Iowa poised to challenge the order.

via Axios|

#2028-primary #democratic-party #dnc-rules-and-bylaws

law-and-courts1 month ago•5 min saved

Kagan: Supreme Court isn’t Trump’s rubber stamp, cites independent rulings

Justice Elena Kagan rejects the claim that the Supreme Court is a rubber stamp for President Trump, highlighting several recent rulings that thwarted his policies—such as tariffs, a Federal Reserve firing, and immigration-related actions—while acknowledging disappointment with other conservative outcomes and noting improvements in the court’s explanations in emergency decisions.

via Politico|

#birthright-citizenship #donald-trump #elena-kagan

politics1 month ago•28 min saved

Cleo Fields leaves Congress to seek Louisiana state Senate seat after redistricting

Rep. Cleo Fields (D-La.) announced he will not seek reelection to the U.S. House and will run for Louisiana’s state Senate after a new map eliminated his district in response to the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling; Fields, a longtime Louisiana politician first elected in 1992 and who briefly returned to Congress in 2024, now aims to fill the late Sen. Larry Selders’ seat.

via Politico|

#callais-ruling #cleo-fields #louisiana

politics1 month ago•15 min saved

Tuskegee’s first Black congressman faces map redraw after Supreme Court ruling

Shomari Figures, elected in 2024 as Tuskegee’s first Black member of Congress, helped secure $1 million for a civic centre to bolster local emergency services and health facilities; but a Supreme Court ruling later weakened Voting Rights Act protections, enabling Alabama to redraw maps and potentially erase his majority-Black district, with implications for federal funding and Black representation ahead of the midterms.

via BBC|

#alabama #politics #redistricting

politics1 month ago•4 min saved

Maryland braces for mid-decade redistricting with August session

Maryland will hold an August special session to begin a potential mid-decade redraw of its congressional map, pursuing a state constitutional amendment that would empower lawmakers to adjust lines ahead of the 2028 elections if voters approve it; Gov. Wes Moore backs the move to protect fair representation amid federal Voting Rights Act challenges, though the plan faces political hurdles and diverges from earlier calls to redraw before 2026.

via Politico|

#2028-elections #general-assembly #maryland

politics1 month ago•6 min saved

Court upholds mail-ballot grace periods, foreshadowing tougher voting rules

The Supreme Court preserved state post-election grace periods for counting postmarked mail ballots, a win for states but a political setback for Trump, while also agreeing to hear an Arizona case that could revive citizenship-proof requirements under the National Voter Registration Act and enable pre-election mass purges of noncitizens, signaling more election-law battles ahead toward 2028.

via CNN|

#mail-ballots #national-voter-registration-act #politics

politics2 months ago•30 min saved

Dems Bet on a Black Voter Surge After SCOTUS Voting Rights Ruling

Democrats say the Supreme Court’s ruling gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act could mobilize Black voters in swing districts, potentially helping Democrats win tight races as the DCCC flags 18 target seats with sizable Black populations. Polling from BlackPAC and other operatives shows high motivation among Black voters to turnout, with energy strongest in states facing redistricting, like Georgia. Yet strategists caution that turning outrage into votes depends on effective, targeted messaging across generations and regions, and that gains may still be limited by GOP-drawn maps and other issues.

via The Bulwark|

#black-voters #democrats #midterms

politics2 months ago•33 min saved

Workers Could Be the Next Civics-Crash Victim as Court Expands Voting-Right Logic to Employment

Vox argues that a Justice Department opinion, building on the Callais framework, would apply the Supreme Court’s voting-rights logic to employment discrimination, making disparate-impact claims harder to prove and shifting civil-rights policy away from Congress toward the judiciary—potentially leaving workers more exposed to discriminatory practices while altering who sets civil-rights rules.

via vox.com|

#civil-rights #disparate-impact #gerrymandering

politics2 months ago•11 min saved

Court Ruling on Alabama Map Deepens Criticisms of Supreme Court Legitimacy

The piece argues that the Supreme Court’s decision allowing Alabama’s racially discriminatory congressional map—through Callais and Allen v. Milligan—undermines the Voting Rights Act and 14th Amendment protections, expands a partisan standard, and signals a legitimacy crisis for the Court by impacting election administration and civil rights gains.

via HuffPost|

#allen-v-milligan #callais #politics

politics2 months ago•29 min saved

Court’s latest gerrymandering ruling signals a partisan tilt in 2026 midterms

The Supreme Court’s six-justice Republican majority issued a ruling that weakens protections against racial gerrymandering by Alabama, arguing state maps can be drawn to dilute nonwhite voting power. The decision diverges from earlier guidance in Callais and Allen, prompting Justice Sotomayor’s dissent that this could provoke chaos in Alabama’s upcoming primary and undermine the Voting Rights Act. Analysts say the Court is broadening states’ ability to shape electoral maps, which could tilt the 2026 midterms toward Republicans by effectively giving them an extra House seat.

via vox.com|

#gerrymandering #midterm-elections-2026 #politics

politics2 months ago•7 min saved

Supreme Court clears Alabama map, expanding GOP edge in the House

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, lifted a lower-court block to allow Alabama to use a 2023 redistricting map that eliminates one of its two majority-Black U.S. House districts, likely giving Republicans a 6-1 edge in the state’s delegation for this year’s elections; the decision follows the Court’s April narrowing of Voting Rights Act protections and comes as several Southern states uproot majority-Black districts, with primaries set for Aug. 11. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, accusing the Court of chaos and weaponizing election rules.

via Politico|

#alabama #gerrymandering #politics

politics2 months ago•3 min saved

Supreme Court clears Alabama map that cuts majority-Black district

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, allowed Alabama to use a 2023 congressional map that eliminates one of two majority-Black districts, a win for Republicans ahead of the 2026 elections. The majority said the state is likely to prevail on its claim the map was lawfully drawn, while a dissent argued the move undermines democracy and the rule of law. The ruling references the Court’s Louisiana decision weakening the Voting Rights Act and deferring more to states’ partisan mapmaking; lower courts had previously found the map discriminatory under the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act. Alabama's primaries were delayed to Aug. 11 to accommodate the map.

via NBC News|

#alabama #black-voters #politics

politics2 months ago•181 min saved

Supreme Court approves Alabama's GOP-leaning map, trimming Black Democrat seat

The Supreme Court, in an unsigned order on May 18, 2026, allowed Alabama to use a new congressional map that benefits Republicans in this year's midterm elections, effectively eliminating one of the two House districts represented by a Black Democrat. The order follows the court's recent Voting Rights Act ruling and is part of a broader pattern of emergency redistricting actions that have generally favored GOP interests in several states ahead of the 2026 elections.

via CNN|

#alabama #elections #politics

politics2 months ago•4 min saved

Alabama Reverts to 2021 Senate Map After Federal Stay

An 11th Circuit stay allows Alabama to use the 2021 State Senate map instead of the court-drawn post-2020 census map. The ruling, tied to Callais and the likelihood of success on appeal, notes the public interest in a legislature-approved map and that the injunctions cause irreparable harm. Districts 25 and 26 around Montgomery could require a special primary, though none has been scheduled as of Friday; incumbents Kirk Hatcher and Will Barfoot had already moved to new districts but will now run in their current districts, with residency rules tied to the redrawn maps paused pending the Supreme Court review.

via Alabama Daily News|

#11th-circuit #alabama #louisiana-v-callais