We are fighting against the most concerted state-based effort to undermine Black voting strength since the Civil Rights Mvmt. And in that context, the Supreme Court has again, & w/abandon, shredded a core provision of the Voting Rights Act.
The move is bold. The announcement of a new "test" for vote denial cases - jettisoning the "totality of circumstances" test that has been adjudicated by trial & appellate cts for decades in these cases & replacing it w/a test that put a hand on the scale for "state interests."
The test itself is deeply cynical. First, the bait & switch. While the Shelby Court insisted we must not focus on the past, but must take acct of the new voting landscape, the Court in Brnovich suggests a presumption of validity for voting measures that were in place in 1982.
Then there's the implication that shutting off some avenue for voting can only be assessed by identifying what other avenues are available, while also recognizing that "outright denial of the vote need not be proved."
And then there's the crediting of the "fraud" rationale as a state interest, despite the overwhelming evidence - of which the Court must be well aware - that "voter fraud" is a myth - a rationale employed by state's to restrict voting.
And of course, the projection. The reference to the dissent as engaged in a "radical project." As though the majority's dismantling piece-by-piece the most important & consequential civil rights statute ever enacted is not an extreme & radical exercise of judicial power.
We need new legislation NOW to protect the right to vote. No Senate rule should stand in the way of the right of Black voters to participate as full citizens in political process.
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