How the Court Became a Voting-Rights Foe

The Supreme Court’s recent decision, reversing that of a lower federal court, to reinstate Alabama’s evidently gerrymandered voting map did more than just make it harder for affected voters to have a meaningful say in the November midterms. To be sure, according to the lower court’s three-judge panel (which included two Trump appointees), the new map adversely impacts Black Alabamans in a way that violates the Voting Rights Act. The electoral stakes could hardly be higher, potentially determining whether control of Congress will shift to Republicans, leading to a cascade of implications, such as the termination of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, efforts to impeach President Joe Biden, and possible election trickery—to say nothing of what would come of the normal business of legislating.

But beyond that, the frightening takeaway from is that a majority of America’s highest court again evinced a disdain for voters and their ability to pick their leaders, intent on cementing a system where this works in reverse, with the entrenched leaders picking their voters in a bid to stay in power indefinitely. By joining the dissent, even Chief Justice John Roberts—not exactly a historical champion of voting rights—seems to think the majority has gone too far, missing the most fundamental message of the U.S. Constitution: no