Rep. Jasmine Crockett accuses Supreme Court of enabling a 'racist' agenda

Rep. Jasmine Crockett slammed the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday in Congress, accusing the top court of enabling a "racist" agenda. She said that the court lacked ethics and was immoral, criticising its ruling on the Alabama congressional map. The court cleared the way for a new map in the state that would eliminate one of the two Black-majority districts, according to a New York Times report. It comes after the court limited the Voting Rights Act in April, preventing states from drawing maps based on race.

Congresswoman Crockett also criticised the court for its Louisiana ruling, which, according to many legal experts, undermined a key provision of the Voting Rights Act by deeming the creation of a second Black-majority district unconstitutional. It also cast aside the decision to redraw congressional maps in Virginia, which had been agreed upon after a public vote.

In all three cases, the GOP will get crucial advantages in what is seemingly going to be a tight battle in November. "This is not what democracy is supposed to be," Crockett said. "The court absolutely needs to be expanded, because it has been expanded in the past. And yes, it makes sense because if we have 13 circuit courts, we should have 13 judges."

"I don't understand how the very same court could say that in the state of Texas, four days before we were to have the end of filing, it is too close to the end of filing, so therefore, we have got to go ahead and go forward with these intentionally discriminatory maps. And these are the words and the characterization of a Trump-appointed Justice," she added.

Crockett also said that something needed to be done about the Supreme Court, as she believed the institution was willing to accommodate the wishes of President Donald Trump, whom she called a "wannabe king." The court's ruling in Alabama is a significant setback for Democrats, reversing a lower court's decision that had sought to protect a map featuring two Black-majority districts for the upcoming elections.

However, Republican state officials refused to let their preferred 2023 map be cast aside. Following a shifting legal landscape from the Supreme Court, the state rescheduled its affected congressional primary elections to August, gambling on the high court eventually granting an emergency stay to approve the GOP-drawn boundaries. As a result of the ruling, Alabama will likely send six Republicans and only one Democrat to Congress next year, as per CNN. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was one of three dissenting liberal justices, wrote, "The Court is squarely faced with a record of the turmoil it has caused and the harm it has wrought. Yet just as Alabama doubled down on racial discrimination, the Court today doubles down on chaos."