The January Sixer Behind the Attack on Voting Rights

"An explosive report from Democracy Docket revealed that Bert Callais, the lead plaintiff in Louisiana v. Callais, the case that demolished the Voting Rights Act, was a January 6 protester. It's unclear if Callais also attacked the Capitol as part of Donald Trump's failed coup d'état, but it is clear that he's an election-denying conspiracy theorist."

"Callais took umbrage at being placed in a majority-minority district, in a state that is one-third minority, and made an entire federal case out of it. His core argument was racist: He essentially argued that white people in Louisiana have a constitutional right to be overrepresented in Congress, that they should get more than they deserve."

"What is, I guess, wild to me is that the lawyers and white-wing forces organizing this attack on the Voting Rights Act knew Callais was a J-6 guy, with a long social-media history of objecting to the voting rights of non-white people, and decided to use him as the poster boy for their case anyway."

"the "named plaintiff" in a case like this is rarely random. Cases built to get to the Supreme Court do not often start because one average citizen files a humble lawsuit that blows up. These cases are planned. The plaintiffs are picked to put the issue in the best possible light."

A report identified Bert Callais, lead plaintiff in Louisiana v. Callais that undermined the Voting Rights Act, as a January 6 protester and election-denying conspiracy theorist. His court arguments centered on opposition to majority-minority districts in Louisiana and a claim that white people have a constitutional right to be overrepresented in Congress. The information is presented as confirmation of prior expectations about the racist nature of his position. The focus then shifts to the strategy behind selecting plaintiffs for Supreme Court litigation, arguing that named plaintiffs are rarely random and are chosen to present issues in the most favorable light. Examples are used to illustrate how such cases are planned and framed.

Read at The Nation