Today on the Playbook podcast is the Supreme Court about to gut the Voting Rights Act.

Peace in the Middle East looks every bit as complicated as we thought it was going to be.

And Pete Hexeth is in Brussels talking about Ukraine.

Hello, I'm Jack Blanchard.

And I'm Megan Messerly. It's Wednesday, October 15th.

And this is the Playbook podcast. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Megan. How are you?

Good morning, Jack. I'm fantastic. Another beautiful day in Washington, D.C.

It really is. I love this time of year. I'm very excited about it.

And it's an especially beautiful day if you really enjoy thorny legal cases at the Supreme

Court because our legal observers are going to be watching this one very closely.

It's actually a massive day at the Supreme Court.

What they're hearing today looks like a kind of an obscure case about Louisiana's

congressional maps, right? But what it actually is turning into is potentially the most significant

moment of all in the run-up to next year's midterm elections. Let me just very briefly

outlined for listeners that don't know what's happening today,

Megan, and then we'll talk about the implications of it all. The Supreme Court today is hearing

arguments in a case that essentially could gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act. Voting Rights

Act is 50 years old this year, signed by Lyndon Johnson at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

It's been eroded and reformed in different ways, including by the Roberts Supreme Court over the last

few years, but still standing totemic in the middle of it is this legal right that states have

to ensure minority representation when considering their district maps. It's absolutely central

to the Voting Rights Act and has been for the past 50 years

...