Justice Kagan Rejects Louisiana's Voting Rights Act Arguments in Supreme Court

Supreme Court Hearing on Voting Rights

• ⚖️ Justice Elena Kagan expressed skepticism towards arguments presented by Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguinaga regarding Section Two of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
• 📌 Kagan noted that the state's arguments appeared to repeat propositions previously rejected by the Court, particularly in the Milligan case.

Rejected Arguments on Discrimination

• 🚫 One rejected argument was that the 15th Amendment only permits legislation against purposeful discrimination by states.
• 💡 The Court had previously held that Section Two, an effects-based test for vote dilution, is permissible under the 15th Amendment.

Race-Based Redistricting and Section Two

• 🗺️ Louisiana's argument that the 15th Amendment does not authorize race-based redistricting as a remedy for Section Two violations was also noted as previously rejected.
• 📉 Kagan highlighted that the state was asking the Court to adopt an interpretation of Section Two that would fundamentally overhaul the jingle threshold inquiry, a baseline of jurisprudence for decades, which the Court had also rejected.

Solicitor General's Defense

• 🗣️ The Solicitor General argued that the Court had never explicitly addressed or rejected two key parts of their argument: that compliance with Section Two is a compelling interest and that the logical endpoint of race-based redistricting under Section Two needs to be decided.
• ⚠️ Kagan countered that the arguments were based on propositions specifically rejected by the Court over many decades, including a recent decision.