Free Republic

Six supreme court justices handed down a ruling built, ostensibly, on the belief that the US has changed so much as to render the protections of the Voting Rights Act unnecessary. No one should be that gullible.In 1901, the same year my great-grandfather was born, George H White rose to address the 56th United States Congress for the last time. He was a Republican congressman from North Carolina – the only Black member of the entire body. He was leaving because the state he represented had passed legislation making his re-election impossible. Reconstruction had already been undone. The powers that...

On last night’s The Weekend: Primetime on MS NOW, legal analyst and law professor Paul Butler delivered an astonishing assessment of the Supreme Court’s recent decision on the Voting Rights Act. Analogizing it to the Dred Scott decision, Butler made the absurd claim: “It’s like the Dred Scott decision, where the Court said that the black man has no rights that the white man is bound to respect. The Supreme Court is saying that the black voter and the brown voter has [sic] no rights that it respects.”Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Today’s Supreme Court decision effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities - so long as they do it under the guise of “partisanship” rather than explicit “racial bias.” And it serves as just one more example of how a majority of the current Court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach. The good news is that such setbacks can be overcome. But...

Where is the decision on the Supreme Court case involving the Voting Rights Act? Where is Louisiana v. Callais, the case that could weaken the Voting Rights Act, and potentially cause Democrats to tremble? The national consequences of this decision are critical, as a ruling striking down the VRA could lead to total Republican control across the South. Perhaps that’s why the Court is slow-walking in releasing the opinion. Sean Spicer said on The Huddle that the opinion is finished, but some justices are holding out as long as possible to prevent redistricting. Does that mean VRA is going to...

Janai Nelson, a lawyer for the NAACP, argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it is necessary to have a second majority-black district in Louisiana because “white Democrats were not voting for black candidates whether they were Democrats or not.” “It was clear that, regardless of party, white Democrats were not voting for black candidates whether they were Democrats or not,” the lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) claimed. “We know that there is such a significant chasm between how black and white voters vote in Louisiana that there is no question that...

Many experts are forecasting the end of a key provision of election law — enabling Republicans to shore up their advantage in the House, according to a new report. Democratic voting rights groups are preparing for a nightmare scenario if the Supreme Court guts a key part of the landmark civil rights-era legislation, the Voting Rights Act — a very real possibility this term. Ahead of the court’s Oct. 15 rehearing of Louisiana v. Callais — a case that has major implications for the VRA — two voting rights groups are sounding the alarm, warning that eliminating Section 2, a...

The battle between Texas and Democrat states over gerrymandering seems likely to touch on the biggest driver of Democrat gerrymandering which fundamentally altered the political balance of power in state after state. Louisiana v. Callais is likely headed for a big Supreme Court decision that will fundamentally change how the Voting Rights Act enforces minority districts. There’s nothing to celebrate about the 60th anniversary of the VRA, a civil rights era relic which long ago stopped fighting segregation and instead enforced partisan gerrymandering with no end in sight. When the Supreme Court began allowing VRA ‘monitoring’ of elections in some...

After the Biden administration spent four years “weaponizing” her division, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon says that she needs more “energized attorneys” to help her spearhead new initiatives to protect rights that have been trampled on in the past years. The priorities pursued in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division by her predecessor Kristen Clarke — prosecuting pro-life activists, suing states over election integrity efforts and targeting police departments — are going to change, Dhillon told the Daily Caller News Foundation during a Friday interview. Under her leadership, Dhillon said the Civil Rights Division will...

In 2013, when asked when he might step down as attorney general, Eric Holder said: "I’m still enjoying what I’m doing, there’s still work to be done. I’m still the President’s wingman, so I’m there with my boy. So we’ll see."What could he have meant? It didn’t take long after President Obama took office to find out. Holder stayed in to commit more legal mischief. And that established the roots of the legal shambles we see today, with Attorney General Merrick Garland violating President Trump's -- and our -- civil rights.The pattern of lawlessness started with Holder.In May 2009, the...

The Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against private lawsuits seeking to redraw federal and state legislative districts more favorable to Democrats... A group affiliated with Iran claiming responsibility for the latest drone strike on the US Ain-al-Asad air base in Iraq... We're learning more tonight about Ray Epps and the activities of two undercover Washington DC police officers on January 6th... The latest opinion poll in the Netherlands ahead of Wednesday's election with rising support for Geert Wilders Party of Freedom (PVV)... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received warnings about Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas taking action against Israel......

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, ordering the creation of a second district with a large Black population. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court’s liberals in affirming a lower-court ruling that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in an Alabama congressional map with one majority Black seat out of seven congressional districts in a state where more than one in four residents is Black.

Just had an email from my private court source, who to date has never been wrong about either who nominees would be, what the outcomes of various cases would be, or even dates of confirmation (with one exception---he was off by 1 week when it came to Kavanaugh and the Balless Edsel last minute claims). Here is what he said about Liz Clusterbomb Cheney. Read to the end. It's a hoot, and true. "The GOP should make it clear that, if she runs for President, she will not have any vote for her recognized. And Merrick Garland can help them....

<p>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday vowed not to sign a new congressional map unless lawmakers dismantle a North Florida district represented by a Black Democrat, setting up a showdown with his own party that threatens to upend the state's delicate redistricting process.</p>

After several days of bad news on the redistricting front, including a bad decision in North Carolina for the GOP-drawn map there, a big win has been delivered to Republicans. The US Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 to halt a lower court order in Alabama that it must redraw its previously passed Congressional map.That means a 6-1 Republican to Democrat map will now go into effect in 2022, and given the makeup of the Supreme Court, there’s no reason to believe it gets struck down at any point past that.BREAKING: By a 5–4 vote, with Roberts joining the liberals in...

“Failure is not an option for the democracy of America,” the New York Democrat said at a Tuesday press conference with other Senate Democrats. “We’re running out of time.” Schumer has repeatedly vowed in recent days to pass voting rights legislation, and if it is blocked by Republicans as expected, to consider a change in the Senate’s current filibuster rules. The evenly divided Senate requires 60 votes for legislation to advance, and Democrats have talked about a carve-out for voting rights, a talking filibuster or some other kind of revision short of entirely killing the filibuster. But Schumer also faced...

Democrats in Congress are unable to move forward on their massive spending bill because of bipartisan opposition. Polling showed resident Biden’s Big Government Socialism Bill was wildly unpopular with the American people. That is no surprise when you consider it did not address any of the significant issues facing American families today like sky-high gas prices, rising food costs, spikes in violent crime, and a shortage of products because of a failing supply chain. So, what’s next for the radical progressives in Congress? That would be pushing another wildly unwanted, unnecessary, unpopular bill. The Left now wants a complete federal...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department sued Texas over new redistricting maps Monday, saying the plans discriminate against the very Black and Latino voters who have fueled the state’s population boom. The lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas, claims the Republican-controlled state violated part of the Voting Rights Act in drawing up new maps for its congressional delegation and state legislature. The case is the first legal action challenging a state’s maps from the Biden Justice Department during this redistricting cycle. The lawsuit notes that the vast majority of Texas’ population growth over the past decade came...

Senior House Democrats on Tuesday aggressively pushed their caucus to fall in line behind next week’s key budget vote, hoping to quell a rank-and-file rebellion that threatens to at least temporarily derail President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. “We have to hold firm. We have to stay together,” Rep. Peter said … The centrists’ threat against the budget is the latest iteration of a long-running tug of war between moderates and progressives in the Democratic Caucus. And with just a three-vote margin in the House, that rift could tank Biden’s entire domestic agenda if Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team...

CDC Coordinated with Facebook On COVID Messaging and ‘Misinformation Chicago Mayor Says She Would “Absolutely” Discriminate Against White Reporters Again Senior Judicial Watch Attorney Russell Nobile Testifies To Congress on Voting Rights Act Big Win at Supreme Court Signals Election Battles Ahead CDC Coordinated with Facebook On COVID Messaging and ‘Misinformation’ Is it any wonder that Americans don’t trust the CDC or Facebook to deliver accurate information? And is it any surprise that your Judicial Watch caught these two organizations colluding to control the flow of news and opinion about Covid-19? We learned a lot about the behind the...

From claiming Georgia lawmakers are racist to relitigating 2020 voter fraud cases, the Biden Department of Justice's complaint against Georgia would be laughable if it weren't so frightening.On Friday, the Biden administration filed a 46-page complaint against the state of Georgia, alleging the state’s Election Integrity Act of 2021 violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. For a lawsplainer of the Voting Rights Act, read here. But for a taste of the surreal state of the U.S. Department of Justice under President Joe Biden, follow along.1. It’s Still 1965Given that on occasion President Joe Biden believes he’s still in...