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In a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court has placed a stay on a lower court’s ruling against the newly drawn voting districts in the state of Alabama. The short-term consequences of this decision mean that the new election maps, which voting advocates say unfairly disadvantage Black voters, will nevertheless be used in the state’s upcoming 2022 elections. The Supreme Court has also said that it will hear Alabama Republicans’ case to permanently overturn the lower court’s ruling against their maps. The 2020 Census

In a much anticipated speech concerning voting rights delivered in Atlanta, Georgia, President Biden called for an end to the filibuster in the US Senate if it meant passing bills like the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Several notable voting rights advocacy groups skipped the speech as a means to express frustration with the Biden Administration for failing to prioritize voting rights in his first year in office and for coming to Atlanta with bold words but

 The Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 in favor of two state laws in Arizona, setting a precedent which voting rights advocates argue will make it more difficult for disadvantaged and non-white citizens to vote. One law holds that only a voter, themselves, or a member of their family, or a caregiver may collect or deliver a ballot on their behalf. The other mandates that election officials eliminate votes that were accidentally cast in the wrong precinct.    Visit NBC News to learn more. Image Credit: David (CC BY

Confident that Republicans will block a vote on an ambitious voting rights bill, analysts of the Senate are predicting another reevaluation of the filibuster among Senate Democrats. While Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are the most vocal Democratic supporters of the filibuster, a number of other Democrats are expressing doubts as to whether eliminating the parliamentary tactic is the right move to make.Visit NBC News to learn more. Image Credit: NASA HQ PHOTO  (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Joe Manhin (D-WV) have sent a bipartisan letter to the top four members of Senate leadership, urging them to reauthorize certain provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Before they were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, these provisions required states with a history of voter suppression to obtain “pre-clearance” from the federal government before implementing new election laws. Senator Manchin, who has faced criticism from fellow Democrats for declining to support a broader voting rights reform measure known as