‘Historic and significant’: key lawyer’s verdict on Alabama supreme court ruling

Deuel Ross, center, plaintiff’s counsel in Allen v Milligan, speaks with members of the press after oral arguments outside the supreme court on 4 October 2022. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

On 8 June, the US supreme court issued one of its most surprising decisions in recent memory.

In a 5-4 ruling, the court ordered Alabama to redraw its congressional map and add a second majority-Black district. In Allen v Milligan, the court offered a full-throated defense of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a portion of the landmark 1965 law that outlaws any voting practice that discriminates based on race. It was an abrupt about-face from the court, that has otherwise slowly chipped away at the law over the last decade. “In recent years, this statute has fared not well in this court,” Elena Kagan said of the Voting Rights Act during oral argument in October.