Carolyn Shapiro — an esteemed and learned colleague, writing at SCOTUSBlog.com — has not only nailed what is broken in the six Justices’ decision. She has now offered a roadmap for essentially undoing it. [One earlier backgrounder of mine, on it all.]
Her novel suggestion is to use the “guarantee clause” of the Constitution, that “[t]he United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government” — which is effectively denied by disenfranchising people of color and LGBTQ+ voters… as Ruby Red lower courts applying Callais, and MAGA Governors, in extending it — are attempting, day by day.
Here’s a link to it all — and a bit, of her… genius argument:
…In Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, eviscerated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. There is so much incisive commentary about this devastating opinion that I hesitate to attempt to add to it. You likely already know that the opinion effectively overrules the provision of the VRA designed to ensure that minority voters are able to have meaningful representation in multimember elected bodies, it turns the Reconstruction Amendments on their heads by making them vehicles for race discrimination, and it drastically restricts Congress’ authority under the 15th Amendment. You may know that it effectively reverses a 2023 case and turns two of Alito’s dissents into law. You probably know that the [six of them deny] doing any of these things. And you undoubtedly know that this opinion, which is an electoral gift to the Republican Party, has already triggered yet another round of congressional redistricting to eliminate districts that were drawn to comply with Section 2, thereby eliminating a slew of safe Democratic seats, and that the impact at the state and local level will be extreme. . . .
So I’ll take a slightly different tack, which is to consider one tactic that might ameliorate at least some of the harm Callais is already causing. I believe that Democrats absolutely must make restoring and protecting democracy, and in particular multiracial democracy, their top priority. To do so, I think they should (among many other things) turn to the guarantee clause, which provides that “[t]he United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” The clause provides an opportunity. (That said, as I’ll revisit at the end of the column, no single law or constitutional provision will fix what ails our country and our democracy. Think of this column as describing just one tool in the toolbox and encouraging others to be even more creative)….
This is a very good start. Onward, resolutely. Ever, onward.
नमस्ते
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