Rights Act

• Survivors of activists who died fighting for voting rights are warning that the U.S. is regressing as the nation nears its 250th anniversary. • The concerns center on the erosion of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark law enacted six decades ago to protect minority voters. • A critical turning point was the 2013 Supreme Court decision that removed the requirement for jurisdictions with discriminatory histories to seek Department of Justice approval before changing voting rules.

Senior lawyers call on prime minister to request Indian prosecutors drop charges that would breach double jeopardy ruleFour senior lawyers, including the former attorney general Dominic Grieve, have written to Keir Starmer urging him to request that Indian prosecutors drop charges against the British national Jagtar Singh Johal on the basis that continued prosecution would be in manifest breach of the double jeopardy rule which prevents someone being tried twice for the same offence.Johal has been held in an Indian jail for eight years, and in March last year was acquitted of the terrorist charges laid against him in a court in Punjab. The court found the prosecutors had ‘miserably failed’ to present any reliable evidence, despite having had seven years to do so. Continue reading...

Case hailed as human rights victory as Tromsø court says Tommy Olsen’s actions are lawful and protected under international treatiesThe decision of a Norwegian appeals court to dismiss the extradition of an activist accused of facilitating the illegal entry of people into Greece has been hailed as a rare victory for human rights.In a judgment described as unprecedented by lawyers representing Tommy Olsen, the Norwegian founder of the NGO the Aegean Boat Report, the court unanimously rejected the request saying his actions were not only lawful but protected under international treaties to which both countries adhered. Continue reading...

The US supreme court demolished the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states can’t consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks with Stacey Abrams, voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision and why she thinks the way forward is still through engaging more voters to participate in democracy: ‘They have fractured communities and said we’re going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow.’ Continue reading...

The US supreme court dealt a devastating blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states cannot consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority-Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks to Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision, and why, despite it all, she still believes the way forward lies in engaging more voters to participate in democracy. ‘They have fractured communities and said we’re going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow,’ she saysSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Mississippi politicians are threatening to redraw the district of Bennie Thompson, the state’s lone Democrat in CongressThe supreme court decision that effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) “was red meat to the Republican legislators of the south” the US House representative Bennie Thompson said.Conservative lawmakers in Mississippi, where Thompson is both the state’s lone Black and only Democratic congressional representative, have used the opportunity to explicitly target him, threatening to redraw the second congressional district, that he represents. Continue reading...

Organizers, including Selma foot soliders, say ruling is latest chapter in long battle over Black disenfranchisement in USThe supreme court’s recent decision to gut the Voting Rights Act is an affront to everyone who marched, bled and died to make that law possible, civil rights activists said.“When we look at the supreme court’s action against the Voting Rights Act, it’s really a kneecap – a way to discriminate, to silence voters who fought so hard for this right,” said Sheyann Webb-Christburg, who, at eight years old, marched with civil rights leaders in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Voters remain split on issues critical to EU, such as support for Ukraine and dependence on Russian energyMore than three-quarters of Hungarians who voted for Péter Magyar in last month’s election want his government to do more to address the climate crisis, and more than 70% want him to protect LGBTQ+ rights, a poll has found.Magyar’s opposition Tisza party won a supermajority in the vote, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power. The new prime minister will be sworn in on Saturday, weeks after the results set off celebrations in Budapest and Brussels. Continue reading...

• The Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, eliminating federal oversight requirements that previously protected minority voting rights. • Republican-controlled states are moving swiftly to redraw congressional maps in response, with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, and Mississippi legislators calling special sessions to adjust districts in their favor. • President Trump personally urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to redraw the state's map to give Republicans one additional seat, while Alabama seeks to eliminate one of the state's two Democratic-held districts.

Ketanji Brown Jackson blasted the decision, saying the court has hastened it ruling only twice before in 25 yearsThe US supreme court went out of its way on Monday to help Louisiana Republicans redraw their congressional maps before this year’s midterm elections by allowing a recent ruling that gutted a key part of the Voting Rights Act to take effect ahead of schedule.The procedural move comes less than a week after the court’s landmark decision striking down Louisiana’s congressional map and gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Usually, the court waits 32 days to formally issue its judgment to the lower court. Last week, Louisiana asked the court to speed up that process, citing the urgency with which it needed to redraw its congressional maps. On Monday, the court agreed to do so. Continue reading...

More than 7,000 join employment tribunal that will include claims for minimum wage and holiday pay More than 7,000 Just Eat couriers are taking legal action against the food delivery company in an attempt to gain better employment rights including the minimum wage and holiday pay.The employment tribunal, which begins on Tuesday and is set to run until 2 June, will determine if the couriers are classed as workers, a status that comes with improved rights, or self-employed independent contractors. Continue reading...

Ruling has gutted provision intended to prevent racial discrimination in voting. Plus, oil tops $126 a barrel to reach highest level since 2022Good morning.The US supreme court has gutted a major section of the Voting Rights Act through a landmark decision on Louisiana’s congressional map, in a major upheaval in US civil rights law that threatens to weaken the voting power of minorities.How have lawmakers reacted? Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures, who are now at risk of losing their seats in Alabama’s Black congressional districts, have decried the decision as sending the nation “backwards”.How did the ruling come to pass? It is the culmination of justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito’s joint campaign to roll back civil rights legislation.How could midterm maps be changed by redistricting? While the supreme court decision leaves little time to redraw maps ahead of the midterms, here is what midterm maps could look like if both parties achieve all their current redistricting ambitions. Continue reading...

Programme of events announced on anniversary of Bristol bus boycott aimed at inspiring societal manifesto for cityBristol has long been a city of activists prepared to work for change, from followers of John Wesley in the 18th century to the 21st-century citizens who toppled the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.On Wednesday, a new campaign was launched – on the anniversary of the start of the groundbreaking 1963 Bristol bus boycott – aimed at making the city the UK’s capital of civil rights. Continue reading...