The Supreme Court's recent decision in the Alabama voting rights case has unleashed chaos and confusion, marking a dark day for democracy and the rule of law. This unsigned, blithely dismissive order, devoid of substantive reasoning, has effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the constitutional protections against discriminatory voting practices. The court's actions have transformed a diverse, Democratic congressional district into an overwhelmingly white, Republican one, crushing Black residents' political representation. This is not a mere aftershock from the Louisiana v. Callais decision, but a separate earthquake of the same or greater magnitude. The court's new test for rooting out intentionally discriminatory maps cannot be satisfied by challengers in the future, leaving minority voters vulnerable to further discrimination. The court's disregard for the importance of Alabama's racially polarized voting as simple partisan preference is appalling. The state's admission of trying to keep white residents in the same district while aggressively slicing up nonwhite communities into different districts is a clear indication of intentional discrimination. The court's approval of the state's desire to keep white voters together while divvying up Black voters to prevent them from electing their preferred representative is a direct attack on minority voters. The court's decision to halt the lower court's injunction, which had preserved the status quo in Alabama, has unleashed havoc on the state's elections. Alabama will now race to reassign hundreds of thousands of voters to new districts in a matter of days, holding separate elections for some voters based on how their districts have been changed at the last minute. This will force a skeleton crew of three election officials to work around the clock to change tens of thousands of voter registrations, creating confusion and chaos. The court's actions have effectively created an irrefutable rule that lawmakers can change election procedures immediately before an election if it advantages Republicans, rewarding Alabama Republicans for defying the court's own authority. The Supreme Court's decision has inflicted two grave harms on the public: it has debased the democratic process by upending Alabama's entire election in the name of permitting discrimination against Black Alabamians, and it has corroded the rule of law by rewarding the state's gamesmanship and outright defiance of court orders. The court's actions will also super-charge confusion for voters and well-meaning election administration officials, throwing up a nationwide bat signal that elections can be rigged with cynical legal moves. At a time when free and fair elections are already under relentless partisan assault, and when public confidence in the institutions of democracy is fragile at best, the court's decision is a lawless, nihilist action that will have catastrophic effects on democracy and the rule of law.
