The Alabama government’s briefs before the three-judge panel in September referenced a concurring opinion by #Kavanaugh that questioned whether “race-based redistricting” can “extend indefinitely into the future.”
Alabama further relied on arguments — also rejected by the U.S. District Court — that a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decision this same term ending affirmative action in college admissions (called Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ) compels the Court to find that a state’s use of a map in which “race predominates” now violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. As in Milligan, Kavanaugh filed a concurrence in Students for Fair Admissions, emphasizing the potential for #time#limits on race-related policies.
In addition, there now appears to be a significant connection between Alabama’s post-Milligan map redrawing process, #Leo’s powerful national dark money network, and Kavanaugh.
The tangled web of previously unreported ties centers around #Marshall, Alabama Solicitor General Edmond #LaCour — dubbed “the architect behind Alabama’s voting rights defiance” — and the D.C.-area law firm #ConsovoyMcCarthy, the firm founded by William #Consovoy, a now-deceased former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas who represented Shelby County in Shelby County v. Holder.
In Shelby County, the Supreme Court invalidated Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act and its vital preclearance provision, which protected against unilateral state changes to voting rights and maps in states that had a documented history of racial bias in administering elections in order to disenfranchise Black voters. #LeonardLeo#scotus#darkmoney#clarencethomas#FedSoc#ShelbyCountyVsHolder#VotingRightsAct#racebased#affirmativeaction