From today’s NBC News:
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Republicans in South Carolina did not unlawfully consider race when they drew a congressional district in a way that removed thousands of Black voters, a decision that makes it harder for civil rights plaintiffs to bring racial gerrymandering claims.
The court, divided 6-3 on ideological lines with conservatives in the majority, said civil rights groups had not done enough to show that legislators were focused on race in drawing the Charleston-area district currently represented by Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican.
While the Supreme Court was considering the case, much more slowly than expected, the lower court that had invalidated the map said it could be used for this year’s election.
The justices’ ruling will therefore have no immediate impact in South Carolina, but it sets the rules of the road for future redistricting efforts. The decision will make it easier for maps to be drawn that disfavor Black voters as long as the mapmakers can show they are focusing on politics, not race.
In the South, Black voters tend to be Democrats, so it can be difficult to separate race from politics.
Leah Aden, a lawyer with the Legal Defense Fund civil rights group who argued the case at the Supreme Court for the plaintiffs, said the ruling is “disheartening not only for our case, but other cases,” because the Supreme Court has now disavowed reliance on evidence it had previously said could be relied upon.
“The bar keeps on getting moved, and it keeps getting harder and harder for plaintiffs to uproot racial discrimination,” she added.
The court sided with Republican state officials who said their sole goal was to increase the Republican tilt in the district.
Read the complete story here.