‘A devastating blow’: NAACP says supreme court docket ruling is ‘a serious setback for our nation’
In the meantime, Derrick Johnson, president of the Nationwide Affiliation for the Development of Coloured Individuals (NAACP), the nation’s oldest civil rights group, mentioned the excessive court docket’s choice in Louisiana v Callais delivers “a devastating blow to what stays of the Voting Rights Act”.
The ruling is “a license for corrupt politicians who wish to rig the system by silencing complete communities,” Johnson mentioned in an announcement as we speak.
He went on:
double citation markThe Supreme Court docket betrayed Black voters, they betrayed America, they usually betrayed our democracy.
This ruling is a serious setback for our nation and threatens to erode the hard-won victories we’ve fought, bled, and died for. However the individuals nonetheless can combat again. Our democracy is crying for assist.
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Up to date at 11.34 EDT
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NAACP official calls supreme court docket ruling on voting ‘a day of loss for vital protections’
Sam Levine
The Guardian’s Sam Levine is on a press name with the NAACP Authorized Protection Fund and the ACLU, who represented these defending Louisiana’s current maps.
“There’s no mincing phrases right here. This can be a day of super loss.
It’s a day of loss for our democracy,” Janai Nelson, who leads NAACP LDF and argued the case on the Supreme Court docket, informed reporters.
“It’s a day of loss for vital protections for the appropriate to vote which have served our multiracial democracy for over six many years. It’s a day of loss for Black voters in Louisiana who’ve counted on truthful maps to permit them illustration that they’ve been denied for his or her complete existence in that state.”
“The implications are as unhealthy as we thought they might be,” Nelson mentioned.
Sophia Lin Lakin, the director of the ACLU Voting Rights Mission, says as we speak’s choice in Callais renders Part 2 moot as “it will likely be troublesome, if not not possible, to implement within the overwhelming majority of circumstances.”
“At the moment’s choice is a profound betrayal of the civil rights motion,” she mentioned.
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Up to date at 13.20 EDT
James Comey surrenders amid justice division fees over social media put up
Former FBI director James Comey on Wednesday surrendered to legislation enforcement at federal court docket within the Japanese District of Virginia, in keeping with CNN, citing a supply acquainted.
His listening to was set to start at 1pm EST. Trump’s justice division filed has charged Comey with making threats in opposition to the president, stemming from an image he posted on Instagram whereas on trip final yr wherein sea shells had been organized to say “86 47”.
Comey mentioned in a video message on Substack on Tuesday that he’s “nonetheless harmless”.
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Up to date at 13.09 EDT
Michael Sainato
Earlier as we speak, Kevin Warsh, Trump’s choose to steer the Federal Reserve, cleared a key procedural hurdle on Wednesday, opening the way in which for him to succeed Jerome Powell subsequent month amid the White Home’s unprecedented efforts to exert management over the world’s strongest central financial institution.
Warsh’s nomination was accredited in a 13 to 11 vote, strictly alongside occasion strains with Republicans supporting the nomination, establishing a affirmation vote within the US Senate within the coming days.
All 13 Republicans on the panel voted in help of Warsh after Thom Tillis, a North Carolina senator, dropped his opposition following the Division of Justice’s choice on Friday to finish a legal investigation into Powell that Tillis considered as a menace to the Fed’s political independence.
The panel’s 11 Democrats, who say they doubt Warsh’s promise to set coverage with out regard to the president’s needs, voted in opposition to him.
In an announcement earlier than the vote, Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic senator and rating member of the Senate’s banking committee, repeated her concern that Warsh will likely be a “sock puppet” for Trump.
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Up to date at 12.59 EDT
Republican lawmakers are celebrating the ruling. Right here’s just a few reactions:
“Nice information,” Utah senator Mike Lee mentioned on X. “Race-based gerrymanders don’t have any place in our nation.”
“Big,” senator John Cornyn of Texas cheered.
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Up to date at 12.59 EDT
‘A democracy diminished’: Pelosi urges Congress to behave after supreme court docket voting choice
Former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi known as the supreme court docket’s ruling in Louisiana v Callais a “new blow” in opposition to the “sacred proper to vote”.
“The implications will likely be felt throughout the nation: fewer voices heard, fewer communities represented and a democracy diminished,” Pelosi mentioned.
She urged Congress to cross the John Lewis Voting Rights act, which might modernize the Voting Rights Act of 1965 however has been repeatedly blocked by Republicans.
“Congress should urgently cross the John R Lewis Voting Rights Development Act to revive the complete power of the Voting Rights Act earlier than this newest blow turns into deadly,” Pelosi.
The Senate majority chief, Chuck Schumer, mentioned the “Supreme Court docket simply turned its again on one of the crucial sacred guarantees in American democracy—the promise that each voice counts”.
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Up to date at 13.00 EDT
Democratic senator Chris Coons mentioned the supreme court docket’s ruling in Louisiana v Callais “has informed the nation that some voices and votes are price lower than others”.
He wrote in a thread on X:
double citation markGenerations of Individuals marched, served, protested, and died for the promise of our democracy. At the moment, the Supreme Court docket continues its regular march to overlook that sacrifice and undo that promise.
By proscribing Individuals’ skill to decide on candidates that symbolize their communities, the Supreme Court docket has informed the nation that some voices and votes are price lower than others.
The Voting Rights Act was a declaration that our democracy belongs to all of us. I nonetheless imagine within the promise of our democracy, and I’ll preserve combating to make it actual and to verify your voice and vote matter.
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Hegseth assaults Democrat for calling battle on Iran ‘a quagmire’
Pete Hegseth additional defended the Iran battle in fiery remarks to Congress, insisting that the unpopular battle is not a quagmire.
“You name it a quagmire, handing propaganda to our enemies? Disgrace on you for that assertion,” Hegseth informed Democrat John Garamendi, claiming that that language “undermines the mission”.
Garamendi had mentioned Trump’s battle technique was one among “astounding incompetence”, describing it as a “severe self-inflicted wound to America” and highlighting the hundreds of civilians and 13 US service members killed.
The blocking of the strait of Hormuz was “foreseeable”, he added, telling the protection secretary:
double citation markYou’ve been mendacity to the American public about this battle from day one, and so has the president.
He famous that the Iranian regime is undamaged, together with Iran’s missile and drone techniques, and that the battle has strengthened Iran’s coordination with China, Russia and North Korea. Trump is “caught in a quagmire” of one other battle within the Center East, Garamendi mentioned.
Hegseth lambasted Garamendi’s assertion as “reckless”. “Your hatred for President Trump blinds you,” he mentioned.
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Again at Pete Hegseth’s listening to on the Home armed providers committee earlier, the protection secretary bought right into a heated change with rating member Adam Smith when he was requested how the federal government plans to finish the nuclear menace from Iran.
“It’s price noting that each president previous to this one, together with President Trump in his first time period, additionally prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon with out truly having to go to battle in Iran,” Smith mentioned.
He then requested Hegseth why the US attacked Iran in February if the operation final summer season had efficiently “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, as Donald Trump claimed, and questioned if there was an imminent menace that made the battle essential.
When Hegseth repeated that declare that Iran’s nuclear amenities had been “obliterated” underground, Smith chimed in: “You simply mentioned 60 days in the past … the nuclear weapon was an imminent menace. Now you’re saying that it was utterly obliterated.”
Hegseth mentioned Iran’s nuclear ambitions had not been eradicated however argued that its nuclear program had been.
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Up to date at 12.06 EDT
US senator for Georgia Reverend Raphael Warnock mentioned the choice “additional ravaged” the Voting Rights Act and left the nation “at a crossroads the place politicians are choosing their voters”.
“At the moment’s Supreme Court docket choice marks a profound defeat for American democracy and can pave the way in which for partisan politicians to select their voters,” the Democrat mentioned in an announcement.
“Clearly, we’re straying farther from the core voting ideas that helped create the various physique that individuals see representing them as we speak. We should restore the Voting Rights Act and ban gerrymandering. Our democracy is on the road.”
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US consultant Troy Carter, whose predominately black congressional district encompasses New Orleans, mentioned in an announcement:
double citation markThis ruling is about excess of strains on a map — it’s about whether or not Black Louisianians can have a significant alternative to make their voices heard.
Carter mentioned the implications of the excessive court docket’s choice will likely be “rapid and extreme” and that Louisiana’s two majority-black congressional districts at the moment are vulnerable to being dismantled.
double citation markWithout the protections of the Voting Rights Act, there is no such thing as a proof to counsel that Black voters in our state will have the ability to elect candidates of their selection.
This choice will embolden efforts to dismantle majority-Black districts and fracture communities which have lastly begun to see themselves mirrored of their authorities. This isn’t nearly federal illustration. This choice may also affect state and native governments, impacting Black illustration in state capitols and metropolis council chambers throughout the nation. It sends a harmful sign that the progress we now have made might be undone beneath the guise of authorized principle.
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The mayor of New Orleans, Helena Moreno, a Democrat who represents the most important metropolis in Louisiana’s different predominantly black congressional district, mentioned the supreme court docket’s ruling was “a step backward”.
double citation markFor many years, the Voting Rights Act has served as a vital safeguard to make sure each voice, particularly these traditionally marginalized, has a significant alternative to be heard.
Placing down a district that mirrored variety suppresses voices and weakens our democracy. We ought to be working to broaden illustration, not roll it again.
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Lauren Groh-Wargo, govt director of Truthful Struggle Motion, a Georgia-based voting rights group based by Democrat and former US consultant Stacey Abrams, mentioned the supreme court docket’s choice “guts” voting rights safety whereas “pretending to uphold it”.
She mentioned the court docket rewrote the legislation to require a displaying of intentional discrimination. That’s after Congress within the early Nineteen Eighties particularly rewrote the Voting Rights Act to overturn an earlier supreme court docket choice in an Alabama case that attempted to do the identical factor.
On the time, Chief Justice John Roberts was a justice division lawyer advocating for a displaying of intentional discrimination.
She mentioned:
double citation markIt permits states, counties and cities to protect their discriminatory maps by claiming they’re advancing their very own partisan pursuits, ignoring that race and occasion are extremely correlated in locations throughout the nation, notably the South.
Certainly, the ruling might open the door for Republican-led states to eradicate Black and Latino electoral districts that are likely to favor Democrats and have an effect on the stability of energy in Congress. Donald Trump has already sparked a nationwide redistricting battle to spice up the GOP’s probabilities.
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Up to date at 11.40 EDT
‘A devastating blow’: NAACP says supreme court docket ruling is ‘a serious setback for our nation’
In the meantime, Derrick Johnson, president of the Nationwide Affiliation for the Development of Coloured Individuals (NAACP), the nation’s oldest civil rights group, mentioned the excessive court docket’s choice in Louisiana v Callais delivers “a devastating blow to what stays of the Voting Rights Act”.
The ruling is “a license for corrupt politicians who wish to rig the system by silencing complete communities,” Johnson mentioned in an announcement as we speak.
He went on:
double citation markThe Supreme Court docket betrayed Black voters, they betrayed America, they usually betrayed our democracy.
This ruling is a serious setback for our nation and threatens to erode the hard-won victories we’ve fought, bled, and died for. However the individuals nonetheless can combat again. Our democracy is crying for assist.
Share
Up to date at 11.34 EDT
