Hansi Lowong

The Supreme Court appears inclined to further weaken the Voting Rights Act.

In places where voting is racially polarized, the landmark law has helped ensure districts are drawn in a way that gives racial minority voters a chance of electing their preferred candidates.

An NPR analysis has found the high court's decision in this case could affect 15 U.S.

House districts in the South that are

currently represented by a Black Democratic member of Congress.

Republican-led states may decide to keep some of these districts for partisan reasons, but losing a handful of those districts could fuel the largest ever drop in the number of Black representatives in Congress.

For a century after the Civil War, that figure stayed in the single digits or at zero.

But since the Voting Rights Act became law, the number's grown to 63 Black-represented districts today.

Anzi Luwong, NPR News.

NPR's Hansi Lowong has more.

For months, the Justice Department has been demanding certain states turn over complete copies of their voter registration lists, including any driver's license numbers and parts of voters' Social Security numbers.

In court filings, the DOJ says it wants this personal information to check if states are following federal law and keeping accurate voter rolls.

But most states have refused, citing privacy restrictions.

Now, the Justice Department is suing Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada.

They're the latest among a total of 18 states facing lawsuits.

The DOJ has also filed a new lawsuit against Georgia's Fulton County.

The Trump administration is trying to force local election officials to turn over all ballots and other records from the 2020 election that President Trump lost.

Anzila Wong, NPR News.

It's not clear when the Supreme Court will issue its decision in a closely watched redistricting case out of Louisiana.

But after the justices held a rare second hearing for the case in October, some court watchers say the court's conservative majority may soon issue a ruling that weakens the Voting Rights Act's protections against voting districts that dilute the power of racial minorities.