A New York judge ordered a congressional district redraw to improve minority voting power. The Supreme Court just froze that order early, before New York’s appeals fully played out. The real fight here isn’t just race or maps. It’s whether the challengers actually ran out of options before going to SCOTUS.

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MAJORITY SIDE (Alito concurring in the stay)

The trial court ordered a new district to ensure “minority voters” can elect their candidate of choice.
— ALITO (majority-side)

That is unadorned racial discrimination…
— ALITO (majority-side)

With nowhere else to turn, the applicants asked us to issue a stay…
— ALITO (majority-side)

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DISSENT (Sotomayor, joined by Kagan + Jackson)

“Rules for thee, but not for me.”
— SOTOMAYOR (dissent)

[An] unprecedented step… without giving the State’s highest court a chance to act.
— SOTOMAYOR (dissent)

Defendants have neither sought leave… nor asked for a stay from the New York Court of Appeals, an obvious place “to turn”…
— SOTOMAYOR (dissent)

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Alito says “nowhere else to turn.” The dissent points to the place they didn’t turn, New York’s highest court. That’s not a nuance. That’s two different versions of what actually happened.