hugely surprising ruling here: John Roberts has spent his whole life trying to undermine the VRA, but has sided with the 3 liberals here. Brett Kavanaugh was the 5th vote to overturn the maps. this almost certainly means Alabama will gain a second majority-black, Democratic-leaning district, and may have pretty big implications elsewhere (perhaps in SC, MS, and a few other states).

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one...

Jokes aside, I was not expecting this ruling. Alabama's congressional districts don't look as egregious as some states mostly because there are fewer, but the 7th district is a particularly bad racial gerrymander, packing the overwhelmingly black parts of Montgomery and Birmingham into a single district.

I also did not expect this ruling. I have to wonder how this will ripple.