The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 9, 2025

A three-judge panel dismissed a case June 6th by a group of Black Arkansas voters that the state legislature racially gerrymandered Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District. It’s the state’s fourth redistricting challenge since 2021.  

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 2023’s Alexander vs. South Carolina NAACP directed that when hearing racial gerrymandering cases, federal courts should, QUOTE “start with the presumption that the legislature acted in good faith.” The Arkansas legislature’s voting district maps have been challenged four times since 2021.

In 2023, the 8th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s radical ruling in a state House map gerrymandering case that Arkansas voters did not have a right to sue under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It ruled only the DOJ could bring a VRA challenge, and the opinion spawned copycat GOP suits which failed in other jurisdictions.   

The latest Arkansas challenge used provisions in the 14th and 15th amendments to argue the legislature unconstitutionally split Black communities in the 2nd Congressional District and dilute their voting power.  But a three-judge 8th Circuit appeals court panel found plaintiff Christian Ministerial Alliance had not proven racial gerrymandering, a higher bar than partisan gerrymandering, an outcome of the South Carolina case.   
There’s an awful lot of smoke from the Arkansas legislature’s gerrymandered voting districts, but no racial gerrymandering fire, at least according to the courts.  We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – (2024) U.S. Supreme Court Finds South Carolina Gerrymandering Case ‘Bleaching’ Congressional District Not Racially Motivated
American Redistricting Project – Arkansas Redistricting Process   American Democracy Minute – (2024)  Federal Appeals Court Denies Rehearing of Radical Arkansas Voting Rights Act Ruling Shutting Out Voters & Democracy Groups from Bringing CasesAmerican Redistricting Project – Christian Ministerial Alliance v. Thurston
Arkansas Advocate – Federal panel rules in favor of state in Arkansas congressional redistricting lawsuit
U.S. District Court – Order in Christian Ministerial Alliance v. John Thurston 

Groups Taking Action:

Christian Ministerial Alliance , Legal Defense Fund

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #RacialGerrymandering #Arkansas #CongressionalDistrict2 #14thAmendment

The post Arkansas Congressional District Racial Gerrymandering Case Dismissed by Federal Court Panel appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for May 29, 2025

In a recent report from Georgia, we told you about voters contesting a mass voter eligibility challenge by election conspiracy group True the Vote.   In another 11th Circuit courtroom that same week, a group of Black voters challenged the voting districts for metro Atlanta. 

The Georgia Recorder reports that a judge ruled in 2021 that after the 2020 U.S. Census, the Georgia legislature failed to account for growth of Black voters in metro Atlanta, and needed to include additional majority-minority congressional, state house, and state senate districts.  The current suit before a three-judge appeals panel contends that the court ordered maps drawn by the legislature in 2023 may not have met the judge’s requirements, and instead kept the status quo.  

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s brief contends that the Voting Rights Act Section 2 should no longer be in use.  He argues that the plaintiffs must prove that the motivation for the maps was racial discrimination – not legal under the federal VRA – and not for partisan political reasons, which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is inherently a state issue.

Anti-voter arguments citing Equal Protection Clause, and “it was political, not racial gerrymandering” are increasing, in an effort to neutralize VRA protections for minority voters. 

Expect an opinion in the case in the coming months.   

We have more on the long history of the case at  AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Georgia Recorder – (2021)  State lawmakers ready to wrap congressional redistricting with a GOP bow
Brennan Center for Justice – District Maps Show How Georgians of Color Are Underrepresented in Local Government
American Redistrict Project – Georgia State Conf. of the NAACP v. Georgia
Georgia NAACP – (2023) Georgia NAACP calls for rejection of newly approved legislative maps in federal court.
Georgia Recorder – Long simmering dispute over Georgia political maps drawn after 2020 Census returns to federal court
Courthouse News Service – Battle over Black voter suppression in Georgia returns to federal court

Groups Taking Action:

ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY,  NAACP Georgia, Brennan Center for Justice

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

#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Georgia #RacialGerrymandering #FairMaps #MajorityMinority #Atlanta

The post Federal Appeals Court Weighs Whether the Georgia Legislature-Drawn Majority-Minority Districts in Metro Atlanta Met Judge’s Order appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

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.