Original Intent

 This week brought a historic Supreme Court ruling that essentially nullifies the use of racial data to ensure minority representation in voter districts, an core element of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This joins a 2019 decision that essentially declares partisan gerrymandering constitutional. What amazes me about the Republican appointees on the Roberts Court is their insistence on claiming to be "originalists" when it suits them (in particular in gun rights and anti-abortion cases) but ignoring the historical context in the case of laws prohibiting racial discrimination. 

Original "Gerrymander" political cartoon, Boston Gazette, 1812

The voting rights acts was considered landmark civil rights legislation because it was intended to prevent the disfranchisement of Black Americans who faced years of state-sanctioned discrimination in a variety of other areas of civic life, including housing, hiring, and public education. The civil rights acts were not "race-blind." Rather they were all about correcting existing racial disparities which, inevitably, translated to systemic attempts to limit political power among racial minorities with common interests. These laws were about ensuring the potential for political change, not about protecting the ability of those in power to maintain their power.

On the other hand, the framers of the U.S. Constitution were abundantly clear about their views on the hording of political power. George Washington hated political parties, and Thomas Jefferson emphasized the need for government to be responsive to its people. Hording political power through the creation of partisan districts couldn't be further from the original intentions of the creators of the U.S. democratic system.

The convenience of choosing originalism in some cases and scholastic adherence to the "language of the law" in others supports the justificatory logic of white supremacy as Rabbi Sandra Lawson lays out beautifully in this piece. This way of thinking is sloppy and self-serving, not worthy of the nobility of the "original intent" of the democratic project in the United States.