Federal Judges, States Legislators, and State Voting Rights Rollback.

This article analyzes how recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have shaped state election law by permitting state legislators to suppress and skew votes while limiting outright election subversion. Key rulings—Shelby County v. Holder (2013), Abbott v. Perez (2018), Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021), Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), and Moore v. Harper (2023)—have curtailed federal oversight of state election administration and redistricting, thereby enabling Republican-controlled state legislatures to enact laws restricting ballot access and influencing redistricting to their advantage. While some Democratic legislatures have expanded voting access and established independent redistricting commissions, the overall effect has been a durable partisan bias favoring Republicans in state legislative seat allocation. The article further highlights the role of conservative federal courts and interest groups in coordinating these state-level reforms, contributing to Republican entrenchment in subnational political institutions despite often losing popular vote majorities.