In a victory for voting rights and Alabama voters, the US Supreme Court has ruled that the state likely violated the Voting Rights Act with a congressional redistricting plan that diluted the voting power of Black voters. The state likely discriminated against Black voters with a newly drafted map that packs most of the state’s Black residents into a single district, out of seven, despite Black residents making up 27 per cent of the state’s population. A key ruling in the case of Allen v Milligan means that the state will have to re-draw its congressional map to include a second majority-Black district. The surprise 5-4 decision on the conservative-majority panel was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, with partial but crucial concurrence from conservative Brett Kavanaugh. In January, a lower court determined that the map significantly dilutes Black residents’ political power and ordered the state to draw new political boundaries that would create at least two districts in which Black voters would be more likely to elect a representative that more closely resembles the state’s demographics. The Voting Rights Act was drafted to prevent that kind of race-based dilution of Black voters. But attorneys for the state argued the opposite – that considering race to redraw political boundaries would mark an unconstitutional consideration of “racial targets” and “race-based sorting”, in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. A decision that sided with Alabama attorneys would have radically reduced Black voters’ political power and landed a critical blow to a state with a long history of racist violence and discrimination. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting laws and election policies from discriminating on the basis of race. The state’s suggestion that “race should play no role whatsoever” to determine whether redistricting plans violate Section 2 would “rewrite” the law and “overturn decades of settled precedent,” according to the map’s challengers. Attorneys for President Joe Biden’s administration argue that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act should be considered when “pervasive racial politics would otherwise deny minority voters equal electoral opportunities.” The map’s challengers argued that is precisely what is at stake in Alabama. This is a developing story Read More Main suspect in 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway due to be extradited to US Alabama senator says Space Command prefers Huntsville for HQ, but command has no comment Missouri governor signs ban on transgender health care, school sports

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has replaced his campaign manager as he struggles to gain traction in his attempt to take down former President Donald Trump in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Campaign Manager Generra Peck will now instead move to the role of chief strategist with James Uthmeier taking on the top post, according to The Messenger. Mr Uthmeier previously held the position of chief of staff in the governor’s office. The shakeup comes not long after the campaign said that Ms Peck’s position was secure. She was in charge of Mr DeSantis’s successful 2022 reelection campaign in Florida but has been criticised by advisers to the governor as well as donors to the campaign after the campaign began to slow and funding started to run out. The campaign has had two rounds of staff and expenses cuts and a revamp of his media strategy to make the governor more available to mainstream outlets. A number of donors and advisers outside the campaign remained unsatisfied, prompting Mr DeSantis to ask Mr Uthmeier last week if he could analyse what issues may be plaguing the campaign and how they may be solved, leading to his hiring as campaign manager. The campaign doesn’t want to refer to the new moves as a “reboot,” The Messenger notes, preferring the word “reload”. “People have written Governor DeSantis’s obituary many times,” Mr Uthmeier told the outlet in a statement. “From his race against establishment primary candidate Adam Putnam, to his victory over legacy media-favored candidate Andrew Gillum [in 2018], to his twenty-point win over Charlie Crist [in 2022], Governor DeSantis has proven that he knows how to win. He’s breaking records on fundraising and has a supporting super PAC with $100 million in the bank and an incredible ground game. Get ready.” Iowa operative David Polyansky will take on the role of deputy campaign manager, leaving his post as an advisor to Never Back Down, the DeSantis-supporting Super PAC. More follows... Read More Florida school board reverses decision nixing access to children's book about a male penguin couple Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch: poll DeSantis won’t rule out abortion ban but suggests there’s no ‘mileage’ in Congress

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Ukraine has claimed fresh success in its counteroffensive against Vladimir Putin’s forces, with the recapture of another village – a liberation that the army says is “key to success in all further directions”. The announcement by the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said that Russian forces had faced “significant losses” in the battle. Kyiv’s forces are seeking to reclaim land occupied by Moscow across multiple areas of southern and eastern Ukraine. The village of Andriivka is about 10 kilometres south of the Donetsk town of Bakhmut, which Russia captured in May after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Meanwhile, Britain’s most senior military officer said Ukraine had taken the initiative over Russia with its offensive, even if gains are gradual. Sir Tony Radakin said: “In the north they are holding and fixing Russian forces there and in the south they are making progress between 10 and 20km.” His comments came as Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Ukraine’s destruction of a Russian air defence system in the annexed Crimea peninsula. Read More Kim Jong Un stops to see a fighter jet factory as Russia and North Korea are warned off arms deals She danced with Putin at her wedding. Now the former Austrian foreign minister has moved to Russia What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

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President Joe Biden said he “strongly, strongly disagreed” with a Supreme Court decision to strike down the decades-long use of affirmative action in college admissions. The court’s conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, saying race can no longer be considered as a factor in universaity admissions. The landmark ruling overturns generations of affirmative action, which began in the 1960s as a way to increase diversity after the hard-won success of the civil rights movement. Chief Justice John Roberts said that, for too long universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”Justice Clarence Thomas — the nation’s second Black justice, who had long called for an end to affirmative action — wrote that the decision “sees the universities’ admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes.” However, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the decision “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.” President Biden urged colleges not to let the ruling “be the last word” as he praised Justice Sotomayor and the other dissenting judges, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. “Discrimination still exists in America. Today’s decision does not change that,” Mr Biden said. “I believe our colleges are stronger when they’re racially diverse. Our nation is stronger because we are tapping into the full range of talent in this nation. We cannot let this decision be the last word.” The rulings come from two consolidated cases, Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College. Both were brought by anti-affirmative action organisation, Students for Fair Admissions, headed by conservative legal strategist Edward Blum. While the court upheld such programmes in a decision nearly two decades ago, the newly-emboldened conservative majority swept away any legal justification for them in Thursday’s opinions. In a 6-3 and 6-2 decision, it claimed the use of race-conscious admissions was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Now, higher education institutions will no longer be allowed to consider race as a factor in admissions. Instead, students who wish to have their race or culture considered in their application will have to volunteer the information in their personal essay. Asked about the court’s decision to strike down a long-standing precedent, Mr Biden remarked: “This is not a normal court.” Leaders from Harvard said in a letter that they would “comply” with the court’s decision but emphasised that “deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences”. Mr Biden said he will direct the Department of Education to find ways to improve diversity without using race as a conscious factor in admissions and recruiting. The Harvard Black Students Association called the court’s decision “detrimental”, adding that it “poses a significant threat to the future of the Black community on and beyond our campus”. “It is evident that the college application system cannot maintain holistic evaluation without taking into consideration how race profoundly influences our experiences, perspectives, and identities in multifaceted ways,” it wrote. Derrick Johnson, president and chief executive of the NAACP, said in a statement: “In a society still scarred by the wounds of racial disparities, the Supreme Court has displayed a wilful ignorance of our reality.” Discussions around affirmative action have generated debate among Republicans and Democrats for years. Those in support of it believe it is necessary to create fair and equal opportunity for students of color because higher education institutions have failed at creating diverse student bodies. Those against affirmative action believe it puts other students, such as white or Asian American students, at a disadvantage. Donald Trump celebrated the ruling, saying it was the result “everyone was waiting for” in a post on Truth Social. “We’re going back to all merit-based – and that’s the way it should be!” the former president wrote. Mr Trump appointed three of the six conservative justices on the Court while president: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. His former vice president, Mike Pence, also expressed support for the court’s decision, tweeting: “I am honored to have played a role in appointing three of the Justices that ensured today’s welcomed decision.” He added: “There is no place for discrimination based on race in the United States, and I am pleased that the Supreme Court has put an end to this egregious violation of civil and constitutional rights in admissions processes, which only served to perpetuate racism.” The ruling could have repercussions beyond higher education institutions, extending to elementary, middle and high schools as well as workplaces and more as it opens a door for challenges to racial diversity programs. Read More US judge temporarily blocks Mississippi law on state police permits for some protests In the Supreme Court chamber, the subject was race, the mood was somber, the criticism harsh Affirmative action is out in higher education. What comes next for college admissions? Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivers searing civil rights lesson in dissent to affirmative action ruling How the government that promised to ‘stop the boats’ has lost control of its immigration policy Clarence Thomas says he doesn’t have a ‘clue’ what diversity means as Supreme Court takes aim at affirmative action One year after the anti-abortion ruling, the White House keeps a spotlight on the issue