Portside

After today's oral arguments on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, it seems unlikely that the Supreme Court's conservative wing will want to uphold the landmark win for civil rights.

She is known simply as The Teacher, a union boss of such legendary influence that she was credited with putting a president in office and, until this week, so untouchable she flaunted her apparently dubious wealth with abandon. Now Elba Esther Gordillo is behind bars over the alleged embezzlement of stratospheric amounts of union funds.

Hundreds of weight-loss industry rank-and-file workers are waging an open rebellion against low wages and poor working conditions.

Don't Unlock Your Cellphone; Cable Soon to be Obsolete; Time-Warner Divorces Time Magazine; Minority Media Ownership Way Down; Hewlett Improves Conditions for its Chinese Workers; Amazon Polices Immigrant Workers with Neo-Nazi Guards; FCC Building Free Universal WiFi - Not!; Still No TV Cameras for SCOTUS; Technology & Democracy; Clicktivism & Unions; Journalists Under Attack; Zombies Hack Emergency Alert System; More

Corporate America has long been shifting the burden of medical costs onto workers. Now, under the banner of health promotion, management is making some workers pay more for their insurance based on individual differences in their medical condition or lack of adherence to "wellness" standards.

The US Supreme Court's upcoming decision on the Voting Rights Act could let discriminatory laws make a comeback.

The eminent University of Chicago anthropologist Marshall Sahlins resigned from the National Academy of Sciences on Friday, citing his objections to its military partnerships and to its electing as a member Napoleon Chagnon, a long-controversial anthropologist who is back in the news thanks to the publication of his new book, Noble Savages.

In the wake of the death of detained Palestinian Arafat Jaradat, officials with the Palestinian Authority have issued a warning to President Obama that Palestine could be "on fire" during his upcoming visit to the region if he does not exert pressure on longtime ally Israel regarding the ongoing treatment of prisoners.

What was most striking about the 2012 election, then, was that in the face of this attack on our right to vote, there was something akin to a popular revolt by the African American and Latino electorate. Latinos voted over 70% for Obama and African Americans over 93%. What happened in the 2012 election was very much about demographics. African Americans, Latinos and Asians turned out in significant numbers, voting overwhelmingly for the Democrats.

This week the Supreme Court will hear one of the most important cases in our generation, Shelby County v. Holder. At issue is Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires all or parts of 16 “covered” states with long histories and contemporary records of voting discrimination to seek approval from the federal government for voting changes.