The Supreme Court is about to hear two cases that could destroy what remains of the Voting Rights

[applegrove]

The Supreme Court is about to hear two cases that could destroy what remains of the Voting Rights Act

A 6-3 Republican Court will hear one of the most aggressive attacks on voting rights since Jim Crow.

By Ian Millhiser at Vox Feb 23, 2021, 8:00am EST

https://www.vox.com/22286213/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-arizona-brnovich-democratic-national-committee-republican-party

"SNIP......

Next Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear two cases that could shred much of what remains of the right to be free from racial discrimination at the polls. The defendants’ arguments in two consolidated cases, Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee and Arizona Republican Party v. Democratic National Committee, are some of the most aggressive attacks on the right to vote to reach the Supreme Court in the post-Jim Crow era.

These two DNC cases concern two Arizona laws that make it more difficult to vote. The first requires voting officials to discard in their entirety ballots cast in the wrong precinct, rather than just not counting votes for local candidates who the voter should not have been able to vote for. The second prohibits many forms of “ballot collection,” where a voter gives their absentee ballot to someone else and that person delivers that ballot to the election office.

The most important question in the DNC cases isn’t whether these two particular Arizona laws will be upheld or stuck down, but whether the Court will announce a legal rule that guts one of America’s most important civil rights laws. And there is reason to fear that it will. The Supreme Court doesn’t just have a 6-3 Republican majority; it’s a majority that includes several justices who’ve shown a great deal of hostility toward voting rights generally and the Voting Rights Act in particular.

The Voting Rights Act is the landmark law that President Lyndon Johnson signed to end white supremacist election laws in 1965, and that President Ronald Reagan signed legislation expanding in 1982.

......SNIP"

[Buckeyeblue]

1. I think the court feels like it is under scrutiny

1/3 of the court was nominated by Trump, 1 of which should have been filled by Obama, the other should have been held over for Biden. A crazy ruling by this court will get people talking SC reform again. I don't think Roberts wants that. Of course, he may not have much choice.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

2. On this issue, Robert's may not care

He has been working towards gutting the Voting Rights Act for most of his career.

[link:https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/john-roberts-voting-rights-act-121222/|]

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. I think 15 is the right number of Justices needed on the Supreme Court.

[Buckeyeblue]

4. If we consider the population is 10 times what it was when the number was adjusted to 9...

I think we need more than 15. What about 21. 1 appointed SC justice should not have as much influence as they currently do.

[FBaggins]

5. What would the connection be?

The number of cases that the court takes hasn't changed substantially in many decades. If anything, it's down.

[Buckeyeblue]

8. More opportunity to reflect the diversity of the nation.

[Bettie]

6. Plus, it would be useful for our nation if

multiple panels could be hearing cases at any given time.

So, enough justices to have 2 or 3 randomly chosen panels going at a time. That way, there could be more decisions, as well as making it MUCH harder to tailor an argument for a particular justice as you'd have no guarantee of getting that one. It would also allow justices who might have conflicts of interest to simply not be on panels for some cases.

[Hortensis]

10. More justices would make it MUCH harder to pack the court,

not just half again as difficult. Right now it takes as little as 5. Just filling a couple of vacancies, an extremely foreseeable situation, can accomplish it.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. We have an extremist court right now.

It is unbalanced both religiously and ideologically.

It's overdue for expansion.

[Hortensis]

12. Yes, extremist and highly dangerous. It's been packed with

hard-core conservative ideologues and political agents to "interpret" liberalism and progressivism out of our constitution and undo most of a century of progress.

We haven't seen anything yet from them, but we will if we don't fix this. All progressive programs and many rights hang on fragile interpretative constructs by liberal courts that could be undone this year if the right didn't need to find a way to minimize the backlash.

[Hortensis]

7. Well, we're passing more laws to restore what's been reversed and more.

Our new HR1 (replacing the last house's HR1 that was blocked by McConnell and died at the end of that session) contains many voting rights protections and a great deal more. It's a blockbuster.

I don't even begin to try to keep all the bills related to this issue in both houses straight. Some are the real thing with big backing, some are just a member or two making a show and not going anywhere.

There's the proposed John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, for instance, though, with provisions which I'm guessing likely will be incorporated as the house and senate bills are finalized and reconciled.

Brennan Center:

How to Restore and Strengthen the Voting Rights Act

The For the People Act (H.R. 1 in the House and S. 1 in the Senate) deals with a lot of nuts-and-bolts election administration issues, while the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act deals with the particular pathology of racial discrimination in voting. The For the People Act is likely to help communities of color, which are typically the hardest hit by the burdens that get imposed as a result of election administration or voter suppression problems. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act directly targets the issue of racism and discrimination in our electoral process.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/how-to-restore-and-strengthen-voting-rights-act

[crickets]

9. Good read. Thanks for the link. nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. K&R