Leslie Proll

Civil rights lawyer. Former director of voting rights @civilrightsorg; policy at @NAACP_LDF; civil rights at @USDOT. 10 years litigating civil rights in AL.

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Remember how long it took Southern states to comply with SCOTUS order in Brown v. Board to provide equal rights to Black people? Literally decades.

Now that SCOTUS has approved the elimination of rights of Black people, these same Southern states are acting with lightning speed.

[The Associated Press @AP]

Tennessee’s governor signs into law a new U.S. House map that carves up a majority-Black district in Memphis. https://t.co/1FJq28Fvbs

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

The importance of the courts to our democracy cannot be lost on anyone after last night’s unconscionable voting rights ruling. Federal judges at every level serve for life, and every single seat matters.

This is malpractice by each Senator who voted to confirm this nominee.

[Jennifer Bendery @jbendery]

So the Senate just confirmed Katie Lane to a lifetime federal judgeship in Montana even tho she earned a rare and embarrassing "not qualified" rating by the American Bar Assn.

First of Trump 2.0 court picks to get this rating -- and be confirmed anyway. https://t.co/M97f7bKwup

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Sotomayor dissent is 🔥

Decision “debases the democratic process by upending AL’s entire election in name of permitting AL to discriminate against Black Alabamians & corrodes rule of law by rewarding AL’s gamesmanship & outright defiance of court orders.” https://t.co/xwMsJtt66J

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Last night’s democracy-destroying decision by SCOTUS makes one thing perfectly clear. We need a new Court. And everyone—elected officials, advocates & people who care about democracy—needs to be talking about transforming this Court into one of justice & equality. Starting today.

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

AL Rep. @AnthonyDaniels is right. SCOTUS eliminating Black-majority district in face of intentional discrimination “is a disgraceful insult to all footsoldiers of Civil Rights movement who fought, bled & died for voting rights & fair Black representation.” https://t.co/xIxEF2w2kH

[Chris “Law Dork” Geidner @chrisgeidner]

This is truly one of the worst things the court has done — both in terms of legitimacy and in terms of the law — since I have been covering the court.

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

SCOTUS greenlights Alabama map abolishing a second Black-majority district despite lower court ruling—including two Trump judges—that it intentionally diluted Black voting power.

This Court has broken our democracy.

[Katie Buehler @bykatiebuehler]

BREAKING: The Supreme Court ALLOWS Alabama to readopt a congressional voting map that limits the power of Black voters to elect candidates of their choice. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson dissent. #SCOTUS https://t.co/iwl08CIbIo

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Make no mistake—Callais has upended elections across the board to diminish ability of Black voters to elect candidates of choice. It’s not only elections for Congress but state legislative office, city council, county commission, school board & as noted here, state supreme court.

[Taniel @Taniel]

There'll be no supreme court elections in Mississippi this year.

A federal court had ordered new, fairer maps for the state's court, and was preparing to order special elections this fall under the new map.

Then came SCOTUS and Callais.

https://t.co/GEwlhah4JY

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Powerful words from former NC voting rights attorney Leslie Winner who litigated Thornburg v. Gingles, the case that SCOTUS just overturned in Callais. “The Callais decision makes me fear for the future of representative democracy in the United States.” https://t.co/Txn5rZ5R16

[Rep. Sharice Davids @RepDavids]

Happy Pride Month! To the LGBTQIA+ community: I see you, and I'm proud to celebrate with you.

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Once an election denier, always …

[Kyle Clark @KyleClark]

NEW: Tina Peters, newly freed by Colorado Gov Jared Polis (D), begins her MAGA media tour by telling Steve Bannon that Democrats are cheating on elections and she was imprisoned as retribution for exposing voting machines that flip votes.

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

HAPPENING TODAY AT 5 PM EST: Excellent discussion on SCOTUS and voting rights with experts Sherrilyn Ifill, Pam Karlan & David Cole--three of the most knowledgeable people around on how SCOTUS has gutted the Voting Rights Act and why we should all be alarmed about our democracy.

[The New York Review of Books @nybooks]

NEXT MONDAY: Join David Cole (@DavidCole_Gtown), Sherrilyn Ifill, and Pamela Karlan for a conversation on the Supreme Court and the future of elections. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish and open to the public. Register below: https://t.co/4hSqTiWolF

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

This: Callais is part of “broader pattern…shifting where power resides in our democracy—away from elected branches & toward the court…Expanding the size of the court is best understood not as response to any single decision but to sustained run of them.” https://t.co/ForRwZZVJS

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Not the way it’s supposed to work:

“SCOTUS already has given a boost to Trump & GOP in nationwide battle over redrawing electoral maps. In coming weeks, it could rule in favor of GOP in two more significant cases ahead of November elections that’ll decide control of Congress.”

[Reuters @Reuters]

How the Supreme Court is reshaping the US midterm elections https://t.co/EZiUqEFGM0 https://t.co/EZiUqEFGM0

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

One in five government lawyers have left. This is an irreparable loss of knowledge, expertise & talent.

https://t.co/tZL9an6vcQ

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

Democrats shouldn’t write off the South, argues Ed Kilgore of ‘New York.’ After the Callais decision, Republicans are racing to lock in their power over the region. Democrats have a moral and political obligation to fight back. https://t.co/3NK5c2B3l1

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

This MS prosecutor had a long, sordid history of striking Black jurors. SCOTUS overturned a death row conviction in 2019 because of his bias & just overturned another.

That he was allowed to continue in office as district attorney for 30 years is a failure of the justice system.

[Atlanta Black Star @ATLBlackStar]

A white Mississippi prosecutor kept finding ways to block Black jurors from serving, and one Black man ended up spending 20 years on death row before the Supreme Court finally intervened.

https://t.co/08E5eESFzE

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Vivian Malone was only 20 when George Wallace stood in schoolhouse door to block her admission. Honor of a lifetime to meet her decades later when she testified in AL’s higher education desegregation case about unequal public university system based on race. Civil rights legend.

[Mississippi Today @MSTODAYnews]

On this day in 1965, Vivian Malone became the first Black graduate of the University of Alabama in its 134 years of existence. https://t.co/D1tu2RV3b0

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

White voters who successfully challenged LA’s second majority-Black district now complain about preserving state’s last remaining majority-Black district, based in New Orleans. In a state where 1/3 population is Black, they want zero Black representatives.
https://t.co/4ZsBlhGpo1

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

A reversal of historic proportion after decades of hard-fought battles to ensure Black voters can elect candidates of choice.

With one ruling, SCOTUS ignited the stripping of Black political power throughout the South, precisely where it’s needed most. https://t.co/pQ4LObeefB

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Wow—MS prosecutor whose strikes of Black jurors caused SCOTUS to overturn death row conviction in 2019 is same prosecutor whose strikes of Black jurors led to today’s overturning of another death row conviction.

Racial bias has no place in justice system. https://t.co/cdbZ7QBTJj