Zach Montellaro for Politico:

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been slowly whittled away over the last decade by the Supreme Court — and a case set to be heard in the fall could shrink the protections offered by the law to the smallest level yet.

The redistricting cycle preceding this year’s elections was the first in 50 years to take place without “preclearance” requirements under the law — a pillar of the Voting Rights Act as originally written, in which states with histories of discriminatory voting practices had to have new election laws or practices reviewed by a federal court or the Department of Justice. Chief Justice John Roberts ruled for a divided Supreme Court nine years ago, in Shelby County v. Holder, to strike down the part of the VRA that determined which states and counties were subject to preclearance.

Now, a still-more conservative Court will hear arguments in the fall about Alabama’s redistricting, in a case targeting the other central piece of the Voting Rights Act: Section 2, which prohibits voting practices and procedures that discriminate on the basis of race. The result of the case could make it more difficult for minority communities to claim new election laws are discriminatory — and raise the bar for what has to happen to get relief from the courts.

Now, a still-more conservative Court will hear arguments in the fall about Alabama’s redistricting, in a case targeting the other central piece of the Voting Rights Act: Section 2, which prohibits voting practices and procedures that discriminate on the basis of race. The result of the case could make it more difficult for minority communities to claim new election laws are discriminatory — and raise the bar for what has to happen to get relief from the courts.

The diminished Voting Rights Act has already played a key role, in its absence, in the 2022 elections. Three states that were previously covered by preclearance requirements — Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana — have all seen their maps face significant challenges in federal court over whether or not they give Black voters adequate representation….

The state of Alabama argued that their process of drawing the map lines were race neutral, and that there is no obligation to create two majority-minority districts, even if it is possible.

“Where, as here, all of the evidence points to districts drawn not on account of race but instead on account of neutral redistricting principles, there can be no constitutional basis to require a State to redraw those districts on account of race,” attorneys for the state argued in a briefing to the Supreme Court.

Election law experts say that argument could, in effect, establish newer and stricter rules for the enforcement of Section 2 of the VRA — giving wider latitude to some laws even if they have outcomes that disadvantage minority voters.

“The argument of Alabama — that you essentially need to apply race-neutral principles to a race-conscious law — if accepted by the Supreme Court, would drastically curtail minority voting power even more than it already has been,” Hasen said.