The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for June 5, 2024
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Is the U.S. Supreme Court aiming to take yet another chop at the 1965 Voting Rights Act? An Arkansas redistricting case has been sent back to a lower court after last week’s new rules making it harder to prove racial gerrymandering.
In another case, the federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in November 2023 that individual voters could not bring a “private right of action” for voting rights cases. Instead, such cases could only be brought by the U.S. Justice Department. A request to rehear the case was denied in January.
Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the Congressional gerrymandering case to be reheard by a three-judge district court panel to apply new standards handed down in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP. Under the new SCOTUS rules, the plaintiffs will have to prove that the splitting of the 2nd Congressional district was done for racial, not political, reasons, and provide an alternate map which provides an acceptable balance. In addition, the Arkansas voters will need to argue they indeed have a “private right of action” to bring the case.
Suspicious minds may argue that the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority is playing chess, expecting to see the case on appeal, where the right of private action can be stripped from precedent and Voting Rights Act protections.
Find more on the case and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
American Democracy Minute – (2023) Radical Decision by Appeals Court in Arkansas Case Greenlights North Dakota Appeal to Restore Maps Designed to Suppress Native American Voting Power
American Democracy Minute – Federal Appeals Court Denies Rehearing of Radical Arkansas Voting Rights Act Ruling Shutting Out Voters & Democracy Groups from Bringing Cases
ABC/AP – US Supreme Court sends Arkansas redistricting case back to judges after South Carolina ruling
Democracy Docket – US Supreme Court Punts Case Challenging Arkansas Congressional Map
SCOTUS Blog – Simpson v. Thurston
Groups Taking Action:
ACLU, Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP, Arkansas Public Policy Panel
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