Washington – The United States Supreme Court today invalidated a map of electoral districts approved by Republican legislators from Alabama, in the south of the country, accused of discriminating against black voters, a measure that will benefit Democrats ahead of the presidential elections of 2024.
By a narrow majority of five justices out of nine, the highest court refused to further dismantle the 1965 civil rights law, much to the relief of minority advocacy groups.
That rule, called the Voting Rights Act, was enacted to prevent formerly segregated states from depriving African-Americans of the right to vote, but in recent years the Supreme Court has struck down some of its content.
The state of Alabama tried to convince the highest court to change its case law, which prohibits diluting the votes of black voters by concentrating them in a limited number of electoral districts to reduce their influence elsewhere.
By agreeing to hear his appeal, the higher court seemed ready to agree with him.
However, the president of the Court ruled that the “new approach” proposed by Alabama “is not convincing either in theory or in practice.”
During the hearing, progressive Justice Elena Kagan protested: “The Voting Rights Act is one of the great advances of our democracy. What will be left of her?”
The Constitution prohibits considering racial criteria to evaluate whether to cut constituencies to minimize the weight of black voters.
Source: Ambito
