On Nov. 20, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in St. Louis, caused an earthquake in the civil rights world.
The court ruled that despite over 50 years of precedent, private parties (meaning people like you and me) don’t have the right to sue to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. That’s the part that prohibits voting practices that discriminate based on race or color — you know, one of the most obvious and important parts.
The judges who made this decision, David Stras and Raymond Gruender, were nominees of Presidents Trump and Bush, proving decisively once again that who gets confirmed to the federal bench ultimately makes a huge difference in our daily lives. Incredibly, these judges made their ruling even though civil rights groups like the NAACP have been suing to enforce voting rights under the Voting Rights Act for decades, taking some cases up to the United States Supreme Court.
This one is likely headed to the Supreme Court too, where today, Trump judges dominate. That’s thanks to Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) race to stack all the federal courts with as many........