(AURN News) — Gov. Jeff Landry, R-La., has suspended all six congressional primaries scheduled for May 16 after a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling involving congressional redistricting and voting rights protections.
Absentee ballots are already in voters’ hands, and early voting was set to begin Saturday after the Supreme Court conservative majority effectively dismantled the Voting Rights Act in a sweeping 6-3 ruling.
The ruling in Callais v. Louisiana effectively buries Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the last federal firewall against racial gerrymandering, by requiring plaintiffs to prove intentional discrimination — a standard civil rights attorneys call nearly impossible to meet.
The fallout has been immediate. Florida has already passed new maps that could deliver four additional Republican House seats. Georgia, Texas and Tennessee are moving quickly behind them.
Analysts warned the Congressional Black Caucus could lose nearly a third of its membership. President Donald Trump posted on social media this morning thanking Louisiana’s governor for “moving so quickly.”
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
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