The Demolition of the Voting Rights Act

"With their decision in Louisiana v. Callais, Chief Justice John Roberts and his cabal confirmed their scorching disregard for the US Constitution and their own illegitimacy as arbiters of justice. Justice Elena Kagan did not mince words in her dissent. "The Voting Rights Act is-or, now more accurately, was-'one of the most consequential, efficacious and amply justified exercises of fe"

The piece condemns a long pattern of American injustice tied to slavery, Jim Crow, and minority disenfranchisement. It argues that Southern defenders used “states’ rights” to justify bondage and segregation, and that Northern supporters later apologized for those wrongs. It claims the U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly aided these efforts at critical moments, citing Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Shelby County v. Holder. It describes April 29 as a decisive step in a decades-long Republican effort to undo the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It credits civil-rights leaders and federal work that expanded human rights. It also criticizes Louisiana v. Callais and highlights Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent as sharply condemning the Court’s action.

Read at The Nation