Roberts, Kavanaugh Shock With Liberal Voting Rights Victory (1)

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh unexpectedly joined their more liberal colleagues in a major US Supreme Court voting rights decision, delivering a rare win for progressives on the issue.

What constitutes victory for the liberal justices is relative in a 6-3 court dominated by Republican-appointed justices.

The court’s 5-4 ruling in Allen v. Milligan on Thursday left in place a nearly 40-year-old test for determining whether states have drawn voting lines in a way that disadvantages minority voters. In doing so, it rejected Alabama’s attempts to remake that test in a color-blind fashion.

The ruling “is preserving ...