The ruling this week that narrows the scope of the Voting Rights Act applies directly only in the three states covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, but it has national implications.
In the 1950s and 60s, southern officials — desperate to maintain the racial status quo — regularly ignored court orders affirming the rights of Black Americans. It is happening in 2023.
CIA impunity in 1988. U.S. imperialism's baby steps in 1898. Free speech for Nazis in 1978. U.S. responsibility for Vietnam War in 1971. Smallpox-infected presents in 1763. Voting wrongs, not rights, in 2013. Haymarket prisoners pardoned in 1893.
A Supreme Court ruling in an Alabama gerrymandering case upheld a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, but challenges remain for communities of color.
In her defense of voting rights, Jackson brilliantly turned the tables on the right by crafting her own originalist argument to defend taking race into account when drawing district maps.
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