The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding a series of important cases during its current term involving issues such as voting rights, presidential powers, tariffs, birthright citizenship, immigration, guns, race, transgender athletes, campaign finance law, LGBT "conversion therapy" and federal agency powers. Here is a look at some of the cases argued during the term, which began in October and runs through the end of June. The court also separately has acted on an emergency basis in a number of cases involving challenges to President Donald Trump's policies.
Voting Rights Act : The court on April 29 gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, making it harder for minorities to challenge electoral maps as racially discriminatory under the landmark civil rights law. The court blocked an electoral map that had given Louisiana a second Black-majority U.S. congressional district. The ruling severely undermined Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress enacted to bar electoral maps that would result in diluting the clout of minority voters. The ruling opened the door for Republican-led Southern states to dismantle Democratic-held majority-Black and majority-Latino districts ahead of the November midterm elections. Section 2 had gained greater significance as a bulwark against racial discrimination in voting after the Supreme Court in 2013 gutted a different part of the Voting Rights Act. Black and Latino voters tend to support Democratic candidates.
