The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 27, 2025

Brian is so sick with a cold today that he can barely talk! This story from January is a good follow up to our March 24 story on Monday’s oral arguments for Louisiana v. Callais held in the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s a reminder that Voting Rights Act Section 2 claims not only come from Black Americans, discriminated against by majority-White governments since the country’s founding, but Native Americans and Hispanics as well – also routinely suppressed by drawing of unfair voting districts, and the manipulation of voting rules.

Click on the graphic below for script and links.

The post Rebroadcast: ND Native American Nation Prevails in Protecting Majority-Minority Voting Districts.  A Victory for Minority Voters, But GOP Efforts to Neutralize the VRA Continue appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 24, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments March 24th in Louisiana v. Callais, in one of the most important voting rights cases of the year.   Voting Rights Act rules allowing minority Americans to elect the candidate of their choice hang in the balance.

We’ve followed this case in multiple courtrooms since 2022, after the Louisiana legislature racially gerrymandered its voting districts to dilute Black voting power.  Louisiana’s population is 33% Black, but in only one Congressional district out of six could Black voters have a realistic chance of electing a candidate of their choice.

The Voting Rights Act Section 2 rules allow for majority minority districts to be drawn, and such districts have been created for African American, Hispanic and Native American districts.  But in Louisiana v. Callais, a group of QUOTE “non-African-American individuals” appealed two court-ordered majority minority districts, claiming the districts were discriminatory and unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.   

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have consistently opposed exceptions for minority groups.  What is unclear is whether the rest of the conservative majority will join them to strike down more of the Voting Rights Act Section 2 rules.   The outcome could result in seismic changes in protections for minority voters around the country. 

Oral arguments begin at 10 AM Eastern , and we have a link to the audio live stream from AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – Majority-Minority Voting Districts Give Minority Voters a Fair Chance to Elect Proper Representation. The Equal Protection Clause is Now Being Used to Try to End Them
SCOTUS Blog – Effort to block second majority-Black district in Louisiana comes to Supreme Court
Brennan Center for Justice – (2024) Black Louisianians Fight in Court to Preserve Fair Voting Map
U.S. Supreme Court – BRIEF OF ALABAMA AND 12 OTHER STATES 
American University Law Review  – (2024) The Twists and Turns of A Map that Captured National Attention – Robinson v. Callais
American Redistricting Project – Louisiana v. Callais
U.S. Supreme Court – Recorded Audio for Oral Arguments March 24, 10 AM

Groups Taking Action:

Power Coalition for Equity and Justice,  ACLU of Louisiana

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Louisiana #VoterSuppression #RacialGerrymandering #VotingRightsAct #SCOTUS #USSupremeCourt

The post US Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments March 24th in Louisiana v. Callais with Protections for Minority Voters Hanging in the Balance appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 12, 2025

On the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, we’re examining how the landmark protections it moved forward in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are now being dismantled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s far right majority.  Louisiana v. Callais may be the next blow.  

What started out as brazen racial gerrymandering in 2022 by the Louisiana legislature, has devolved into a new tactic to undo more of the already-weakened VRA.  Lower courts ordered the legislature to draw new, fairer maps.  After initial defiance, it drew two majority-minority Congressional districts to allow concentrations of the state’s 33% Black population to elect the candidate of their choice.

In 2024, a group of QUOTE “non-African American voters” appealed.  They claim that the new districts are a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment – making the redistricting decisions based on race  – and should be struck down.  In 2023’s striking down of affirmative action, Justices Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas pointed to the Equal Protection Clause, as did Alito in his 2023 dissent in Alabama’s Milligan racial gerrymandering decision.  

When oral arguments begin on March 24th, all eyes will be on Justices Kavanaugh & Coney-Barrett, who upheld the VRA’s Section 2 in the Alabama decision, but who also concurred with parts of Thomas’ Equal Protection Clause dissent. 

The voting rights for which the Selma marchers shed blood may indeed be in jeopardy.   We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

U.S. Supreme Court – Docket for Louisiana v. Callais
All About Redistricting – Louisiana v. Callais
Brennan Center for Justice – Black Louisianians Fight in Court to Preserve Fair Voting Map
SCOTUSBlog – Milligan Decision:  Supreme Court upholds Section 2 of Voting Rights Act
Campaign Legal Center – Supreme Court’s Impact on Voting Rights Is a Threat to Democracy
Legal Defense Fund – Louisiana v. Callais FAQ

National Constitution Center – Supreme Court rules against universities in affirmative action decision

Groups Taking Action:

Legal Defense Fund, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice,  ACLU of Louisiana

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Louisiana #VotingRights #FairMaps #VRA

The post Will Louisiana v. Callais Be the Latest Blow Against the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by SCOTUS? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 11, 2025

Five months after peaceful voting rights marchers were viciously attacked by their own government in Selma, Alabama, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson.  Anti-voter legislatures, are now challenging the VRA’s protections, even though that discrimination continues.

The VRA was intended to give teeth to the 15th Amendment, prohibiting discrimination based on “race, color or previous enslavement.”  The VRA Section 5 required states with a track record of discrimination, mostly southern and some western states, to “pre-clear” their election law with the U.S. Justice Department. 

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 began an erosion of those protections, by prohibiting the U.S. Justice Department from enforcing those preclearance requirements. In the ensuing 12 years, power-hungry state legislatures unleashed a torrent of anti-voter bills, designed to suppress specific groups, including Black, Hispanic, Native American, and college student voters. 

A 2021 decision, Brnovich v. DNC, made it harder to argue that those bills discriminated by race. In 2024, the conservative majority made it more difficult to prove racial gerrymandering under the VRA Section 2 in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP.  The latest attack?  A 2025 Supreme Court case from Louisiana argues the VRA’s provision for majority-minority voting districts is itself discriminatory – toward White voters.   More on that in an upcoming report.

We have more on these cases at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Florida Phoenix – Tens of thousands commemorate 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma
Brennan Center for Justice – The Voting Rights Act Explained
NAACP – Voting Rights Act of 1965
Southern Poverty Law Center – 60 years after Bloody Sunday, foot soldiers address current threats to democracy
Brennan Center for Justice – (2023) Effects of Shelby County v. Holder on the Voting Rights Act
Campaign Legal Center – (2021) Supreme Court’s Decision Further Damages Voting Rights Act
League of Women Voters U.S. – (2024) Court Made Racial Gerrymandering Easier in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRightsAct #VRA #BloodySunday #Selma #VoterSuppression

The post The Voting Rights Act of 1965, Born Out of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ Fights for Its Life in the Face of an Activist U.S. Supreme Court Majority appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 29, 2025

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

There are 141 majority-minority congressional voting districts in the U.S., out of 435.  A new conservative legal tactic has emerged, arguing such districts harm  White Americans, and citingthe Equal Protection Clause, originally passed to end state discrimination against Black Americans.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act Section 2 and subsequent court rulings allow narrow exceptions to connect communities and create majority-minority voting districts.  Such districts allow Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian communities to elect the representatives of their choice, without having their vote diluted by a White majority.  And that White majority historically has too often attempted to suppress minority voting power through restrictive voting rules and racial gerrymandering.

Since the 2023 Allen v. Milligan racial gerrymandering decision, a conservative legal strategy has emerged, challenging majority-minority voting districts by flipping the original intent of the Equal Protection Clause.  In a U.S. Supreme Court case to be heard in February, a group of Louisiana QUOTE “non-African-American individuals” claim THEIR rights have been harmed by the provision.  Their argument was supported by 12 other red states, including five former preclearance states, citing the Equal Protection Clause.  

In past opinions, Justices Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch appear ready to pounce on the case, and try to eliminate such opportunity districts for Louisiana’s 33% Black voters, but also for minority voters around the country.    

Find more at  AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Ballotpedia – Majority-Minority Congressional Districts
U.S. Supreme Court  – Allen v. Milligan Decision
U.S. Justice Department – States and Counties Formerly Required for Section 5 Preclearance Because of Consistent Racial Voting Discrimination
Brennan Center for Justice – Black Louisianians Fight in Court to Preserve Fair Voting Map
U.S. Supreme Court – BRIEF OF ALABAMA AND 12 OTHER STATES 

American University Law Review  – (2024) The Twists and Turns of A Map that Captured National Attention – Robinson v. Callais
SCOTUS Blog – Louisiana v. Callais (formerly Robinson v. Callais)

Groups Taking Action:

Power Coalition for Equity and Justice,  ACLU of Louisiana

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #EqualProtectionsClause #14thAmendment #VoterSuppression #RacialGerrymandering  #MajorityMinority

The post Majority-Minority Voting Districts Give Minority Voters a Fair Chance to Elect Proper Representation. The Equal Protection Clause is Now Being Used to Try to End Them appeared first on American Democracy Minute.