The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on how much states can rely on race to draw voting districts.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on how much states can rely on race to draw voting districts. The case concerns Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits drawing election districts in ways that improperly dilute minorities’ voting power. Many people interpret this to mean that any time a state can create a voting district that is at least 55% minority, the state must do so.
These are called “majority-minority” districts. The idea is that this will increase the number of minority representatives in state and federal legislatures. But this means that states have to make race the crucial factor in drawing voting districts and that states therefore have to treat minority voters differently than other voters. Some argue that this conflicts with the Constitution. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution requires “equal protection of the laws” and the 15th Amendment says that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
The Supreme Court just heard arguments in a case in Alabama where the State created just one majority-minority district when they could have created two. The press is full of dire warnings that this could mean doom for the Voting Rights Act.
