Chief Justice John Roberts Is More Than Ready to Take Away Minority Voting Rights

Today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the consolidated cases of Louisiana v. Callais and Robinson v. Callais. These cases were brought for one purpose only: to give the Court's carefully constructed conservative majority a chance to kick out the last support beams holding up the Voting Rights Act of 1965. From The Guardian:

The court’s decision in the case, Louisiana v. Callais, could be one of the most consequential rulings for the Voting Rights Act since it was enacted in 1965 and is almost certainly the biggest test for the law since its decision in Shelby county v. Holder in 2013, when the justices hollowed out a provision of the law, section five, that required certain places to get voting changes approved by the federal government before they go into effect.

The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of the most powerful remaining provision of the Voting Rights Act: section two. The measure outlaws election practices that are racially discriminatory and has been the tool that minority voters and voting rights advocates have frequently turned to challenge redistricting plans—from congressional districts to county commissions and school boards—that group voters in such a way to dilute the political influence of a minority group.

If Section 2 falls, and I think it will, the only thing left of the VRA, a law for which people literally spilled blood and gave their lives, will be stationery. The gerrymander-scheming will be audible on Mars, and minority voters once again will get hosed. All the walls will go back up again.

This time, however, their strongest sledge, the VRA, will no longer be of any use. Chief Justice John Roberts is just one step from the goal he set for himself when he joined the Reagan Administration and fixated on demolishing the VRA.

Congress amended Section Two in 1982 to clarify that it outlawed practices that resulted in discriminations—one did not need to prove intent. Working as an attorney in the justice department, John Roberts advocated strongly against those amendments.

It will be the crowning moment of the Chief's career.