Sometime at the end of next April, the carefully manufactured conservative majority on the United States Supreme Court will finish off the Voting Rights Act. It will do so on the basis of threadbare arguments easily summarized by the phrase: "Black civil rights discriminate against white people like me."

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court conducted the usual shadow play that it performs before issuing a ruling, which was preordained the moment John Roberts became Chief Justice. In 2013, he and the Court vivisected most of the VRA in Shelby County v. Holder . Now , Roberts gets to apply the coup de grace.

The arguments on Wednesday were a masterclass in predictability; each side knew good and well which way the Court will eventually rule. (I’ll take the classic 6–3 with only Justice

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