Topic: Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Louisiana cannot use race-based redistricting to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The decision struck down a map that created a majority-black district, with the majority opinion stating that race-based gerrymandering remains unconstitutional regardless of the intended beneficiary.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton are seeking to remove Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to block a redistricting vote. The GOP-backed map aims to redraw districts based on the most recent census. Legal experts discuss the constitutionality of "coalition districts" and the lack of prohibition against mid-decade redistricting in Texas.

Beto O'Rourke spoke in Austin, Texas, linking Republican voting laws to the January 6th Capitol riot, which he claimed resulted in five murders. During a confrontation with activists, O'Rourke asserted that Vice President Mike Pence was "nearly hung" and that the events were led by Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred Jr. announced the relocation of the All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest of Georgia's new voting legislation. Governor Brian Kemp defended the law as an expansion of voting access while critics and corporations like Coca-Cola and Delta labeled it discriminatory.

Kamala Harris and other political figures have increasingly used the phrase "current occupant of the White House" to avoid naming President Trump. Harris argued that Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan refers to a time before the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

Ari Berman of Mother Jones argues that the citizenship question is a tool for "nativist resentment" and voter suppression. He claims that an undercount of people of color will rig American democracy by shifting electoral power away from diverse states. The hosts critique Berman's rhetoric, specifically his grouping of all "people of color" into a single political category.

Al Sharpton organizes a march in Washington D.C. focusing on four "non-negotiable" issues: voting rights, criminal justice reform, economic justice, and the Affordable Care Act. Despite low turnout in the rain, Sharpton vows to continue the resistance against the Trump administration. The hosts mock the small crowd size and Sharpton's rhetorical style.

The media coverage of Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions is analyzed for inconsistencies. While NBC's Andrea Mitchell noted Sessions' past support for the Voting Rights Act, Democracy Now reported the opposite. Allegations from 1986 regarding Sessions' comments on the KKK and marijuana are scrutinized for accuracy and context.

The discussion focuses on Eric Holder's claims that restrictive voter ID laws and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act disproportionately affect people of color. Holder suggested that long polling lines in urban areas could be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.