By The Opinion
The Supreme Court’s recent decision on the Voting Rights Act is a new blow to the electoral influence gained by Latinos.
The law, passed in 1964, was considered at the time the most important legislation since the Reconstruction era, after slavery. Section 2 prohibits denying or reducing the right to vote based on race, including political maps that dilute the electoral power of voters of color.
This was before Supreme Court conservatives began gutting the law. In 2001, it made it difficult to challenge discriminatory voting rules outside of the redistricting process. In 2013, the High Court eliminated the requirement that states with a history of discrimination must go through the Department of Justice for approval.
Now Justice Samuel Alito wrote that Section 2 only applies when “intentionally” discriminating on the basis of race. That doesn’t stop states from seeking a “partisan advantage” in ways that can also reduce the voting power of large, geographically compact minority communities, according to the justice.
In practice, it opens the door for the dispute for seats in the House of Representatives that are currently in the hands of Latinos and African Americans. The decision wants to replace them by simply changing the district.
In other words, to create a Republican majority district, the power of a minority community can be diluted, dividing it into several districts, instead of following the rule of respecting the integrity of the communities.
For the Latino voter, this ruling leads to the dismantling of districts, makes discrimination lawsuits more difficult, and reduces the number of representatives in the House of Representatives.by allowing the state legislature to divide Hispanic voters into districts where their voice is not relevant.
A group of “non-African Americans” from Louisiana sued because the electoral map created two majority-African American districts, out of a total of six. Now those districts can return to Republican hands.
Judge Alito believes there is no more racismthat is why we must “update ourselves for modern times” “since great social changes have occurred.” Forget that positive social changes are due to laws, such as Voting Rights, which give minorities a political voice.
The High Court sent a lifeline to Republicans facing a bleak outlook for the midterm elections. It allows politicians to choose their voters instead of going the other way around and changing districts to divide minority power and win an election they would otherwise lose. That is not democracy.
