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‘Terrible, Wrong and Brutal for Minorities’: Appeals Court Guts Voting Rights Act

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Legal experts are sounding the alarm over Monday’s Appeals Court ruling they warn “decimates” the Voting Rights Act and will be “brutal” for minority voters.

In a 2-to-1 ruling, the highly-conservative Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled private plaintiffs, for example, voters and civil rights groups, do not have the right to sue to have section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) enforced. Only the U.S. Dept. of Justice, the court ruled, can sue under section 2.

“It will be a devastating near-death blow to the Voting Rights Act if it remains the law,” Wendy Weiser, the director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, told The New York Times. “Radical theories that would previously have been laughed out of court have been taken increasingly seriously by an increasingly radical judiciary.”

The ruling appears to only apply to the Eight Circuit’s jurisdiction, which is Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, NBC News reports.

“It’s hard to overstate how important and detrimental this decision would be if allowed to stand,” warned UCLA professor of law Rick Hasen, the pre-eminent voice on election law and campaign finance. He added, “the vast majority of claims to enforce section 2 of the Voting Rights Act are brought by private plaintiffs, not the Department of Justice with limited resources. If minority voters are going to continue to elect representatives of their choice, they are going to need private attorneys to bring those suits.”

READ MORE: ‘Careful Scalpel’: Appeals Court Likely to Uphold Trump Gag Order but Narrow It Experts Say

In his headline Hasen wrote the ruling “Would Decimate the Rights of Minority Voters; Supreme Court Review Almost Certain.”

Professor of law Steve Vladeck, a CNN contributor, noted that not only has the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed section 2 case from private plaintiffs before, it has specified the Voting Rights Act is still operable because private plaintiffs have the ability to sue under section 2. Until now.

“The 8th Circuit has gutted the last remnants of the Voting Rights Act,” declared MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance, a professor of law and former U.S. Attorney.

NPR called suing under section 2, “a key path for enforcing the Voting Rights Act.” Similarly to Hasen, they wrote the ruling “may set up the next U.S. Supreme Court fight that could further limit the reach of the Voting Rights Act’s protections for people of color.”

“Private individuals and groups, who did not represent the U.S. government, have for decades brought the majority of Section 2 cases to court,” NPR added. “Those cases have challenged the redrawing of voting maps and other steps in the elections process with claims that the voting power of people of color has been minimized.”

Indeed, Marc Elias, the top Democratic attorney who won all but one of more than 60 lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies in the 2020 election, explained: “In past 40 years, there have been at least 182 successful Section 2 cases–only 15 were brought solely by DOJ.”

Professor of law Eric Segall, author of “Originalism as Faith,” and “Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court Is Not a Court and Its Justices Are Not Judges,” issued a dire warning.

READ MORE: Hate Group Stages Boycott of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Over Nonbinary Broadway Actors

“Terrible, wrong and brutal for minorities,” Segall called it, noting that in that ruling the Eight Circuit was “trying to finish what Justice Roberts and Judge Bill Pryor wanted for decades: the eventual judicial repeal of the entire VRA.”

Monday’s ruling was written by a Trump-appointed judge, and upholds a lower court ruling also written by a Trump-appointed judge.

“Jesus Christ,” exclaimed The Nation’s justice correspondent Elie Mystal. “This is THE WAY the Voting Rights Act works. It’s THE WAY we enforce the 15th freaking amendment. I think [Chief Justice John] Roberts and [Justice Amy Coney] Barrett will join the liberals to reverse this when it gets to SCOTUS, but my God, letting Trump judges on the federal bench was a terrible plan.”

 

Image by GPA Photo Archive/US Dept. of State via Flickr and a CC license

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Trump and His Team Have ‘Fetishized’ Bragging: Columnist

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December 15, 2025

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A New York Times opinion columnist is taking President Donald Trump and his team to task for what he described as having not only “normalized bragging,” but “fetishized it.”

“It’s a naughtiness they allow themselves, a perk they accord themselves, a rite by which they identify themselves to one another as birds of a feather — peacocks, in this case,” observed Frank Bruni. “It’s a competition: My superlatives are bigger than yours.”

Declaring that “Trump and his team exuberantly violate just about every precept of character that I was ever taught, and so it goes with moderation and humility,” Bruni reported on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recent comments.

READ MORE: Forecaster Reveals ‘Massive Shift’ in Party Americans Trust

“It has been a historic year at the Department of War,” the Secretary said.

“He added that ‘the spirit in our ranks’ was ‘unprecedented’ and that recruitment and retention were ‘at the most historic levels our country has ever seen.’ Not just historic — most historic.”

Trump “can’t find enough hours in the conventional workday to proclaim his glory adequately, so he has been known to spend the wee hours strutting on Truth Social, as he did from 9 p.m. to midnight on the first day of December, in a narcissistic meltdown of more than 150 posts.”

“Me, me, me. Best, best, best,” Bruni recorded.

READ MORE: Republicans Start to Speak Out Against Trump’s Rob Reiner Message

After pointing out Trump’s recent self-congratulatory “A+++++” claim on how he is handling the economy, Bruni offered some perspective.

“That’s five pluses, for those of you too nonplused to pause and count. I assume he stopped there only because he was winded. He’s not the cyclone of energy he used to be. He’s more an erratic breeze.”

“As for the economy,” the columnist continued, “all the pluses in the world may not persuade voters of their good fortune. An AP-NORC poll released on Thursday showed that just 31 percent of Americans — a new low in that survey — approve of how Trump is handling economic issues.”

Bruni concluded, “That’s an F with minus upon minus in tow.”

READ MORE: Trump Reveals White House’s ‘Primary’ Policy Goal — And It Isn’t Cutting Costs

 

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Forecaster Reveals ‘Massive Shift’ in Party Americans Trust

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18 hours ago

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December 15, 2025

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There has been a “massive shift” in the party Americans trust more on inflation — one of the top issues in the country.

CNN forecaster Harry Enten revealed on Monday that a strong majority of Americans now believe that when it comes to fighting inflation, the country is on the wrong track: 56%, up from 36% when President Donald Trump took office.

“Donald Trump was elected to solve the economic crisis, to solve the pricing crisis,” Enten told viewers. “But at this particular point, these numbers are going in the complete wrong direction.”

“You go back to January, these numbers were pretty split, right? 43% said wrong track, 36% said right track, right when Donald Trump came in office. But look at that. That wrong track number has skyrocketed up to 56%.”

READ MORE: Republicans Start to Speak Out Against Trump’s Rob Reiner Message

He added that the percent of Americans who believe the country is on the right track when it comes to inflation is now just 29%.

“The bottom line is this,” Enten continued. “Donald Trump is trying to spin a narrative, and the American people aren’t buying the spin that is coming out of the White House.”

Noting that Americans’ “number one” concern is inflation, by a strong margin, Enten put that number at 44% of the country.

“It’s inflation, overwhelmingly, driving this economic pessimism, and I will tell you this, until the economy, until the American people think that inflation is under control, they will continue to have pessimistic feelings about the economy, because inflation is numero uno by a wide, wide margin in driving the second economic pessimism.”

When it comes to which party Americans now trust more on fixing inflation, Lenten noted that three years ago it was the GOP by a 14 point margin.

READ MORE: Trump Reveals White House’s ‘Primary’ Policy Goal — And It Isn’t Cutting Costs

That’s now flipped.

“Now, Democrats are trusted more by four points, so it’s not just the president that the American people are turning on when it comes to inflation,” he noted. “It is, in fact, the Republican Party as well — a massive shift to the left towards the Democratic Party.”

Enten also pointed to the prediction markets, which, he said, show that 80% do not see inflation getting better soon.

“The bottom line is this,” Enten concluded, “there is no relief in sight.”

READ MORE: Trump Is the ‘Biggest Security Threat’ Facing America: Columnist

 

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Republicans Start to Speak Out Against Trump’s Rob Reiner Message

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20 hours ago

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December 15, 2025

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Two Republican lawmakers are speaking out against President Donald Trump’s highly-criticized remarks on what is being investigated as an apparent homicide of celebrated director and activist Rob Reiner, and his wife, Michele Singer.

The president in a Monday morning Truth Social post blamed “Trump Derangement Syndrome” on the couple’s deaths.

Reiner, the president then alleged, “was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before.”

READ MORE: Trump Reveals White House’s ‘Primary’ Policy Goal — And It Isn’t Cutting Costs

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) responded directly to the president’s remarks.

“Rob Reiner and his wife were tragically killed at the hands of their own son, who reportedly had drug addiction and other issues, and their remaining children are left in serious mourning and heartbreak,” Greene alleged. “This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies. Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It’s incredibly difficult and should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder.”

Police have not classified the deaths as murder.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) spoke more forcefully about the president’s remarks:

“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered. I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”

READ MORE: Trump Is the ‘Biggest Security Threat’ Facing America: Columnist

U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) responded to Congressman Massie.

“Thank you for your humanity,” Lieu wrote. “I want you to know the White House isn’t ignoring Trump’s post about Rob Reiner and Michele. The official White House rapid response account amplified Trump’s post.”

But some found Massie’s remarks insufficient.

“Massie is being delicate here,” observed Tim Carney, an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) senior fellow. “‘Innapropriate and disrespectful’ is an extreme understatement. Trump’s behavior here is deranged and shows psychopathic levels of narcissism. It’s also unsurprising given Trump’s standard behavior.”

READ MORE: ‘Where Is Antifa Headquartered?’: FBI Official Struggles Defending Top Threat Label

 

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