The high court’s 6-3 decision on Thursday effectively gives state lawmakers a roadmap for discriminating against Black voters when drafting congressional district boundaries, as long as they can say they were targeting their party affiliation, not their race.
In its monumental 1954 decision in Brown v Board of Education, the Supreme Court sought a “boundless view of equitable remedies” through “extravagant uses of judicial power” to end racist segregation, according to Justice Thomas.
“Drawing political districts is a task for politicians, not federal judges,” arguing that the court’s “insistence” on hearing cases involving racist voter suppression “led it to develop doctrines that indulge in race-based reasoning inimical to the Constitution.”
Last year, a federal court tossed out South Carolina’s map after finding that the state’s First Congressional District – currently represented by Republican US Rep Nancy Mace – violated the Constitution by using race as the determining factor when drawing its boundaries.
The case has magnified the difficulties for ensuring protections for Black voters particularly in states where one’s race and political affiliation are closely aligned, blurring the line between racial or partisan gerrymandering.
In Thursday’s decision written by Justice Samuel Alito , the Supreme Court’s conservative majority argued that the complaint from the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP relied on “circumstantial” evidence that Republican state lawmakers used race when they drafted its congressional map.
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The high court’s 6-3 decision on Thursday effectively gives state lawmakers a roadmap for discriminating against Black voters when drafting congressional district boundaries, as long as they can say they were targeting their party affiliation, not their race.
In its monumental 1954 decision in Brown v Board of Education, the Supreme Court sought a “boundless view of equitable remedies” through “extravagant uses of judicial power” to end racist segregation, according to Justice Thomas.
“Drawing political districts is a task for politicians, not federal judges,” arguing that the court’s “insistence” on hearing cases involving racist voter suppression “led it to develop doctrines that indulge in race-based reasoning inimical to the Constitution.”
Last year, a federal court tossed out South Carolina’s map after finding that the state’s First Congressional District – currently represented by Republican US Rep Nancy Mace – violated the Constitution by using race as the determining factor when drawing its boundaries.
The case has magnified the difficulties for ensuring protections for Black voters particularly in states where one’s race and political affiliation are closely aligned, blurring the line between racial or partisan gerrymandering.
In Thursday’s decision written by Justice Samuel Alito , the Supreme Court’s conservative majority argued that the complaint from the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP relied on “circumstantial” evidence that Republican state lawmakers used race when they drafted its congressional map.
The original article contains 551 words, the summary contains 226 words. Saved 59%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!