Supreme Court Applauds Texas Lege's Ability To Murder Voting Rights Without Using The Word 'BLACK'
Slow. Fucking. Clap.
Sometimes you have to hold two opposing thoughts in your head at the same time. You feel white-hot rage that Justice Kennedy is handing Republicans a knife to murder voting rights with, and simultaneously pray to every deity in the pantheon that he stays on for another term. Adulting is hard!
This morning, in a 5-4 opinion (Thanks, Anthony!) the Court blessed Texas's fucktussle legislative map, which just so happens to slice minorities up into districts where they can't ever elect a Democrat. Sure the 2013 Texas legislature jammed through a slightly different version of a map that had been judged discriminatory in 2011. But as Justice Alito wrote for the majority,
[W]e do not see how the brevity of the legislative process can give rise to an inference of bad faith—and certainly not an inference that is strong enough to overcome the presumption of legislative good faith[.]
Yep, it's just a coincidence that Travis County is divided up like a pinwheel.
Image via Austin Chronicle
As the Austin Chronicle reports,
Parts of five congressional districts are located in Travis County – yet not one of those districts is "anchored" (i.e., has a majority of its residents or voters) in Travis. Austin, the 11th largest U.S. city, is also the largest without an anchoring district or a congressman whose primary responsibility is representing the city.
And what a happy accident that a state with only a slight edge in GOP voter registration produces a House and Senate that skew two-thirds Republican. So weird how that happens when all the legislators act in "good faith"!
The Supreme Court did invalidate one Texas House District near Fort Worth for impermissibly packing minority voters in contravention of the Voting Rights Act. But other than that, CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH.
SCOTUS also sent back the case over North Carolina's ratfucked maps for reconsideration. Could the 4th Circuit pretty please with sugar on top find some technical reason to disappear the challenge to the state's legislative maps so Republicans can continue to systematically disenfranchise Democrats for all eternity?
Because those five conservative judges would really prefer not to have to put their fingerprints on a decision that explicitly okays discriminatory gerrymandering. Well, except for Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, who just can't see what all the fuss is about.
I adhere to my view that §2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 does not apply to redistricting. Thus, §2 cannot provide a basis for invalidating any district, and it cannot provide a justification for the racial gerrymander in House District 90. [Citations omitted.]
Yep, that's the OG sexual harasser and his sidekick in the stolen seat weighing in to say that they don't see where the Voting Rights Act makes it illegal to draw districts based on race? LOL, that's just good clean fun!
Well, this week's gonna SUCK! But at least there are only six decisions left until SCOTUS goes on break this summer.
And may we say, you're looking fresh as a daisy and ready to take on the world, Justice Kennedy? Long may you grace us with your wisdom, Sir!
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I've never had haggis, but that other stuff sounds pretty rad!
It isn't a lie. It is just a matter of definitions. To Republicans, "good faith" means "that which increases our power out of proportion". Because they have faith that they are the only ones who deserve power.