Supreme Court seems poised to further undercut the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed headed for another ruling that undercuts the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Once considered the jewel in the crown of the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act has been largely dismembered since 2013 by the increasingly conservative Supreme Court. The major exception was a decision just two years ago that upheld the section of the law aimed at ensuring that minority voters are not shut out of the process of drawing new congressional district lines.

But on Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote that decision, downplayed the importance of the ruling, suggesting he didn't see it as controlling the outcome in Wednesday's case.

At issue in the more than two hours of arguments before the court was the redistricting map drawn by the Loui