Awaiting the Supreme Court Decision That Could ‘Completely Erase’ the ‘Civil Right Movement’s Crowning Achievement’

A series of Supreme Court ruling days beginning Friday could deal a major blow to America’s multiracial democracy.

Louisiana v. Callais »could completely erase all, or most, of the crowning achievements of the civil rights movement,” Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center, told reporters Thursday.

The Court could use the case to destroy what’s left of the Voting Rights Act, hampering the section of the law under which voting rights groups challenge district maps that dilute minority voters. Before the law’s passage, black voting power and political representation, particularly in the South, were virtually nonexistent. The right has worked for years to get back to that place, and after more than a decade of rolling back voter protections, the Court seemed ready during oral arguments in October to finish the job.

All three branches of government are now working in tandem to dismantle election protections and impose new restrictions, just months before a midterm cycle that Republicans fear goes badly for them. In addition to the Court likely killing what’s left of the Voting Rights Act, congressional Republicans united behind the SAVE Act to add onerous proof of citizenship and photo identification requirements across the country. Only the Senate’s systematic obstruction stands in the way of its adoption.

If the SAVE Act reaches President Trump, Weiser said, it would be “the first time the United States Congress has passed voter suppression legislation.”

The House is also expected to vote on the Make Elections Great Again Act, which is even more pernicious and would ban universal mail-in voting, post-Election Day ballot counting, and ranked-choice voting.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is attempting to impose voting restrictions through executive actions (unsuccessfully so far), has been the main force pushing red states to redistrict, and has raided the elections office in Fulton County, Georgia. Allies urged Trump to deploy ICE or the military to polling places, a ploy transparently aimed at intimidating Democratic voters into staying home.

Fair Fight’s Lauren Groh-Wargo on Thursday cited an old episode of Steve Bannon’s podcast, in which he and a guest listed the three ways Republicans had to manipulate elections to secure one-party rule in the United States: executing mid-decade redistricting, gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and tinkering with the census.

When Louisiana v. Callais comes down, starting Friday, Bannon and co. they may have come closer to realizing their vision.

This could also be the decision on customs tariffs

Since late last year, court watchers have gone from breathless anxiety to a disappointing fall, awaiting a major court decision on the legality of Trump’s indiscriminate spraying of tariffs. The tariffs stretch the limits of executive power, have serious economic consequences and, potentially, pit the Court’s right-wing majority against a president it is much more comfortable supporting.

Alito watching the releases?

It has become widely believed that Justice Samuel Alito will resign at the end of his term on the Court for one reason: Republicans fear losing control of the Senate. If they do, Alito, 75, may have to wait until at least 2028 for another right-wing justice to be confirmed in his place — even longer if Democrats win the White House or Senate.

Add to that another fairly obvious signal: Alito has a book coming out in October (a favored bet of older political figures to anticipate the definition of legacy), and that his wife Martha-Ann has been publicly mulling over the possibility of him “freeing himself from this nonsense” since at least 2024.

The only possible motivation for Alito to stay is the megalomania that causes members of Congress to cling to their seats until they die. But he knows better than anyone that his vision of America is only possible if the Court remains under the influence of the right, and that requires paving the way for a young justice shaped in his image.

…And Thomas?

The calculus that applies to Alito also applies to his 77-year-old brother in ideology. Thomas isn’t writing a book, as far as I know, which leaves us without one of Alito’s main narratives. But if Thomas does not also leave this summer, he will be making a real actuarial gamble.

In case you missed it

Morning memo: True American exceptionalism: a culture of impunity

The franchise: A setback for DOJ’s efforts to obtain state voter rolls

The rear channel: CEOs have joined in Trump’s corruption. It will soon be time for consequences.

Yesterday’s most read story

Trump’s Favorite Surly Spox Leaves Stage Right

What we read

U.S. assembles most air power in Middle East since 2003 invasion of Iraq — Lara Seligman, Michael R. Gordon, Alexander Ward and Shelby Holliday, The Wall Street Journal

Sewage tests reveal high levels of cocaine in Nantucket, Massachusetts — Richard Luscombe, The Guardian

We Learned Nothing About Amplifying Morons – Emanuel Maiberg, 404 Media

“Who the hell are these men?” » How extremists reconquered Idaho and how some residents are fighting back. — Michael Edison Hayden, Mother Jones