The conservative-dominated United States Supreme Court, in a surprise ruling, has sided with Black voters who alleged a Republican-drawn districting map in the state of Alabama was discriminatory.In a 5-4 ruling, the court said that the congressional map — which had only one majority Black congressional district out of seven, in a state where more than one in four residents is Black — likely violated the landmark civil rights-era Voting Rights Act.The case was closely watched due to its potential to further weaken the Voting Rights Act, which was passed in 1965 and sought to prevent Jim Crow-era racial discrimination in US voting. Several Supreme Court rulings in recent years have chipped away at the legislation, most notably a 2013 decision that blocked a provision of the law that required states with a history of discriminatory voting practices to face federal review of new laws and procedures.
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