Transcript
A (0:00)
A big yacht, the Lexus bragging about money. Those are just props. That's not the engine. That's not the emotion that my music is running on.
B (0:08)
That is, of course, Jay Z. I'm John Caramonica, one of the critics behind the New York Times 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters Project. We interviewed some of the songwriters on our list, including Taylor Swift, who hasn't sat for a video like this in a long time. Watch all the video interviews for free@nytimes.com 30 greatest or in the app
A (0:33)
from the New York Times, it's the Headlines. I'm Traci Mumford. Today's Thursday, April 30th. Here's what we're covering.
C (0:44)
The consequence of this decision is as clear as it is dangerous. Fewer protections for voters. More power for politicians to draw maps that silence them, particularly historically disenfranchised voters
A (0:57)
in Washington and across the US Democrats are blasting the Supreme Court's ruling on the Voting Rights act, calling it a betrayal of the civil rights movement. At the same time, Republicans are calling it a major win for the Constitution and hailing the decision which could open the door for more red states to redraw their election maps to benefit the gop.
D (1:18)
They determined that the last map that was drawn for Louisiana was done unconstitutionally, and we've been seeing that Congress consistently from the beginning. That was the obvious result.
A (1:27)
In its ruling yesterday, the court's conservative majority threw out a Louisiana voting map, saying that lawmakers there illegally used race as a consideration when drawing a majority black congressional district under the Voting Rights Act. States across the country have long done what Louisiana did. They created districts where non white voters are the majority to protect those voters ability to elect candidates of their choice. It was seen as a crucial way to try and undo decades of discrimination and disenfranchisement under Jim Crow. But the Supreme Court's majority now says that in the decades since the VRA was passed back in 1965, the country's made so much progress when it comes to racial discrimination in elections that the act has essentially served its purpose. With this decision, the court has made it harder going forward to intentionally create majority minority districts. In a strongly worded dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said the ruling will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in elections. In terms of what this could mean for the next big election, Americans will be voting in the midterms. That remains to be seen. My colleague Nick Corsaniti, who covers voting, says a lot of states don't have time to change their maps before November, even if lawmakers want to.