I respectfully dissent
Reading the swear words between the lines of Justice Sotomayor's dissent in the Alabama gerrymandering case.
As a rule we don’t spend a ton of time on dissenting judges since, by definition, theirs is not the winning opinion. Except for the exceptions. As is Justice Sotomayor’s dissent in Allen yesterday, which took away one of Alabama’s two minority-majority districts. Read and admire for yourself and see how many “fucks” you can spot between her lines.
Before the Court are two paths. Down one lies an orderly election, held under a tried-and-tested congressional map that protects Black Alabamians’ right to vote and with which all voters, elections officials, and candidates alike are familiar. Down the other lies a chaotic election, held under a never-before-used congressional map that intentionally discriminates against Black Alabamians, that Alabama adopted in unashamed defiance of a prior court order directly affirmed by this Court, and that will require officials to change the voter registrations of hundreds of thousands of voters in just days at best, a task that Alabama previously represented would take months. The majority chooses the second path and disregards both democratic values and the rule of law. I respectfully dissent.
There is much more at the link, including how she calls the unsigned majority’s ruling unconscionable. Her dissenting opinion runs over 17 pages (starting at page 5 of the PDF at the link above) and it tells the entire sorry tale of how we wound up where we are. To say she doesn’t mince words would be a fine understatement. Like Justice Kagan’s equally strident dissent in Callais (also about infringing non-whites’ right to vote) saying that in states “marked by residential segregation and racially polarized voting — minority voters can now be cracked out of the electoral process.”
Observers have noted in recent years a trend towards abrasive dissents, including in some cases justices dropping the customary “respectfully.” Strong, muscular dissents on the high bench are not a bad thing, especially on contentious issues. Bring on the sunlight and let consequences follow actions.
Rulings that disenfranchise non-white voters are trying to turn the clock back to when whites (and/or conservatives) didn’t have to share power. Justice Sotomayor’s withering dissent is written for public consumption as much as for legal prosperity. She’s saying plainly what is happening and who is being harmed. She shines a very bright light on the polite form of white supremacism that this fucked-up gerrymandering represents. She’s doing us all an incomparable favour.