from WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Friday, May 8th.

We're very happy to have with us today the actual lawyer who argued in defense of the Voting Rights Act in the landmark case before the

Supreme Court. It's Jenae Nelson, President and Director of the Legal Defense Fund, previously

known as the NDACP Legal Defense Fund. Here she is in action when the court heard the case

back in October, arguing for the court to support creation of a second black

majority district in Louisiana because of discrimination by the white majority legislature.

Six appellate judge has affirmed findings that Louisiana, in the face of extreme

racially polarized voting, packed and cracked black voters, and it rejected seven non-dilutive

maps in favor of one that would give its 58 percent declining white electorate, entrenched

control over 83 percent of the congressional districts.

Janay Nelson, near the beginning of her oral arguments, as you know, the 6-3 decision handed

down last month, basically gutted the Voting Rights Act. Every day now, there's a story of another

Republican-led state boxing out Democratic

congressional districts currently represented by Black Democrats. If you've been listening to the news

this morning, you heard the headline about Tennessee doing that yesterday. As reported in the Tennessean,

quote, the newly drawn districts carve up Tennessee's only majority black congressional

seat into three districts, two of which stretch from Memphis to Williamson County outside

Nashville, unquote, from the Tennessean this morning. We'll play more excerpts from the Supreme Court

oral arguments as we go. Jene Nelson, President and Director of the Legal Defense Fund, joins us now.

Jene, we appreciate you coming on with us at this pivotal time and with your personal

involvement in this case.

Welcome back to WNYC.

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