I have written this piece for MSNBC Opinion. It begins:

With President Donald Trump flooding the zone with attacks on American democracy and the rule of law, it’s easy to lose sight of the damage that the Supreme Court is doing on its own to weaken voting rights protections. Late on a Friday afternoon in August, the Supreme Court — on its own initiative and via a cryptic order — transformed a ho-hum redistricting case into a potential vehicle to take down the remaining key section of the Voting Rights Act.

The case, which concerns the drawing of Louisiana’s six congressional districts, could decimate minority representation in Congress and state and local government. And if the court rules quickly enough, it may even allow yet another round of partisan redistricting that could affect which party controls Congress after the 2026 midterm elections. Yet few outside of Supreme Court lawyers and voting rights experts seem to be paying much attention….

Now, in Callais, Roberts has engineered the chance to take down Section 2. In its extreme amicus brief, the Trump administration offers a number of ways for the court to deprive Section 2 of its power while potentially avoiding headlines saying that the court struck down another part of the VRA. The brief suggests that the court reject Gingles and reinterpret Section 2 so that it only applies to cases involving discriminatory intent, not effects. This would mangle Section 2’s text and ignore congressional intent, while giving Roberts and Reagan a much-belated victory.

The risks in the Callais case for minority voters are dire, with the case potentially leading to the bleaching of legislative bodies throughout the United States. But the risks are raised even higher by the timing. The court quickly reset the case for oral argument in October, potentially leading to a decision in time for states like Louisiana to re-redistrict and eliminate black, Latino, Asian and Native American opportunity congressional districts before voting in the 2026 midterm elections and thereby affect control of Congress. Trump’s Justice Department was granted permission from the Supreme Court to weigh in against the Voting Rights Act at oral argument, probably the first time that the United States has taken a position against the Act.

When Mr. Trump attacks democratic institutions, he does so in the manner of a car wreck — so flagrantly destructive as to command public attention. When the Supreme Court undermines our democracy, as it seems poised to do in Callais, it feels more like a slow poisoning: the attacks may be harder to notice, but they are just as deadly.