Mother Jones

COLORBLIND JUSTICE

John Roberts has made rolling back the Voting Rights Act a cornerstone of his career. Now the lower courts are pushing back.
President Reagan and John Roberts in the Oval Office, 1983

IN 2013, WHEN Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. issued the most far-reaching Supreme Court decision on voting rights in the 21st century, he finally succeeded in gutting a civil rights law he has been fighting his entire career. For three decades, Roberts has argued that the United States has become colorblind to the point where aggressive federal intervention on behalf of voters of color is no longer necessary—and this case, Shelby County v. Holder, was the pinnacle of that crusade.

Roberts honed his views on race and voting as a clerk for Justice

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Mother Jones

Mother Jones4 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
Chatbot Quacks
NOT LONG AGO, I noticed a new term trending in social media wellness circles: “certified hormone specialist.” I could have investigated it the old-fashioned way: googling, calling up an expert or two, digging into the scientific literature. I’m accus
Mother Jones6 min readAmerican Government
Party Crashers
EVEN BEFORE THE last shots of the Revolutionary War were fired, John Adams wrote a friend to warn, “There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the Republic into two great parties.” Alas, political scientists will tell you the winner-takes-all
Mother Jones14 min read
Unnatural Selection
THERE’S SOMETHING UNSETTLING about the Venus flytrap. When it eats, it behaves more like an animal than a plant, ensnaring unsuspecting insects in its fragrant snapping trap in as little as a third of a second. And while one can understand, rationall

Related Books & Audiobooks