Thread by @mjs_DC

Oh no. SCOTUS just agreed to hear a case that the conservatives could use to end the Voting Rights Act as we know it. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…

Background on the case SCOTUS just took up:

The 9th Circuit struck down two Arizona voting restrictions. It ruled that both laws had a disproportionate impact on racial minorities, and that one was motivated by racist intent, all in violation of the VRA.
slate.com/news-and-polit…

Republicans hope to use this case as a vehicle to shred the VRA's most potent remaining tool: The ban on voting laws with a disproportionate impact on racial minorities.

John Roberts has wanted to kill this section of the VRA since it was passed. slate.com/news-and-polit…

After SCOTUS gutted preclearance in Shelby County v. Holder, the VRA's "effects test"—which prohibits laws that have a racist effect, even if they weren't clearly motivated by racism—emerged as a somewhat effective shield against voter suppression.

Now SCOTUS may eviscerate it.

Also: SCOTUS seems likely to use this case to establish an unrealistically high standard to prove racist intent when lawmakers suppress minority votes.

If a voter suppression law's racist effects don't matter, and it's impossible to prove racist intent ... the VRA will be dead.

The Supreme Court just raised the stakes.

If a 6–3 conservative majority decides this case, it will, in all likelihood, effectively repeal the remnants of the Voting Rights Act.

Congress can either add justices or say goodbye to the most important civil rights law in history.

I have dreaded a frontal attack on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act for so many years. Now it is here, under the worst possible circumstances, with a looming 6–3 SCOTUS majority ready to rip the remainder of the law to shreds. This is really bad news. It's frankly terrifying.