Conservative US Supreme Court To Decide On Race, Elections And Freedom Of Religion Issues This Month

As The Supreme Court races to issue all outstanding opinions by a self-imposed early July deadline, there is little doubt that the conservative majority is prepared to continue the right-ward trajectory in areas concerning affirmative action, election law, and LGBTQ+ rights. The liberal justices, behind the scenes, are undoubtedly trying to figure out how to best utilize their firepower in dissent. They could also be working feverishly to pick off a conservative vote or at least narrow the legal scope of an opinion. The court is considering whether colleges and universities can continue to take race into consideration as a factor in admissions, a decision that could overturn long-standing precedent that has benefited Black and Latino students. The lower court ruling invalidated Alabama’s congressional maps under Section 2 of the law and ordered new maps to be drawn with an additional majority Black district to account for the fact that 27% of the state is Black. The lower court held that the state’s maps violated Section 2 of the VRA which bans discrimination based on race. The Supreme Court is also considering two challenges to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, an initiative aimed at providing targeted debt relief to millions of student-loan borrowers that has so far been stalled by legal challenges.