After the Supreme Court appeared poised to weaken a key provision of the landmark civil rights law, both parties began to reckon with an uncertain future.
Democrats want guarantees that President Trump will not continue to claw back spending, ignoring any agreement they strike. But he has promised to keep defying Congress.
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, and other lawmakers on Wednesday. He called the specter of more unilateral cuts by President Trump “another indication that Republicans are not operating in good faith.”
Representative Kevin Kiley of California has criticized his own party for keeping the House out of session during the shutdown. He is battling boredom and disaffection as the stalemate drags on.
Democrats would be in danger of losing around a dozen majority-minority districts across the South if the court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act.
In a dispute over a Louisiana voting map, the justices grappled with whether there should be a time limit on using race as a factor in carving up voting districts.
The justices have shown a willingness to chip away at the landmark civil rights legislation. A Louisiana case could unravel much of its remaining power.
President Lyndon B. Johnson with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after signing the Voting Rights Act in August 1965. Since then, the law has served to protect the voting power of Black Americans.