The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Louisiana vs. Callais on Wednesday morning. This is one of the most exciting election cases that the court has taken up in decades. You could tell from the celebratory atmosphere outside the court, after arguments wrapped up.
For those who don’t know, Democrats have had a huge, federally enforced advantage in congressional districting since 1964. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act allows the federal government to force states to racially gerrymander their congressional districts to favor minority voters.
Instead of just drawing sensible geographic lines on the map, the Justice Department can force states to redraw their districts to encompass enough minority neighborhoods to give the Democrats undeserved seats in Congress. That’s obviously racist and an insane way to run democratic elections.
The bench was “hot” about this case on Wednesday morning. The three liberal judges were especially mad, because they understand the implications of what will happen if Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is finally nullified by the court.
It would mean that Democrats would lose 19 House seats right before the midterm elections next year. Even powerful Democrats in red states, like James Clyburn in South Carolina and Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida, would lose their seats.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon gave an update outside the court on Wednesday, right after arguments wrapped up (just listen to the crowd!):