…And justice for all?

The Supreme Court session that began yesterday could reshape several key aspects of American life, with the justices set to hear cases related to the environment, LGBTQ rights, and affirmative action, as well as voting rights and election law. In other words, we can expect more fireworks this term from the embattled judicial branch, which unfortunately hasn’t escaped the divisiveness that has pervaded our national government. The king of divisiveness himself, Donald Trump, fresh off his latest racist social media rant, is also asking for the high court’s help in the ongoing case of the stolen classified documents. Even the conservative justices can’t be too happy about that, as the court fights to prove its legitimacy and restore its reputation of impartiality. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

Ed. Note: The Topline staff will be taking a four-day holiday this weekend, so there will be no issue published on Friday, Oct. 7. Topline will return on Tuesday, Oct. 11. We’ll see you then.

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Starting off with a bang

A U.S. Supreme Court whose credibility has been questioned in recent months, following a series of controversial rulings seen by some court observers as overtly political, began its session this week. The high court will take on a number of hot-button issues this term amid a crisis of public trust. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joins the court’s liberal minority as the first Black woman to serve on the bench, but conservatives still have the upper hand, and upcoming rulings are expected to go their way.

• On the docket today. In a case that could further undermine the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the state of Alabama is defending a Republican-drawn electoral map faulted by federal judges for diluting the voting power of Black voters. Alabama has argued that drawing a second district to give Black voters a better chance at electing their preferred candidate would itself be racially discriminatory by favoring them at the expense of other voters.

• “A race-conscious effort.” While the court’s conservatives appeared to sympathize with the state, Jackson rejected Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour‘s argument that states should not consider race in crafting electoral district lines. Jackson countered that the law is specifically designed to ”identify people in this community who have less opportunity and less ability to participate, and ensure that that's remedied.” A final ruling is not expected until June.

• Coming up soon. Another case this term could have a substantial impact on the U.S. electoral system by handing more power over the process to state legislatures. The ruling will come amid rising concerns over the future of elections, as a growing number of Republican candidates—especially in critical swing states—have embraced the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. Stay tuned. —Reuters

MORE: Five cases to watch as Supreme Court begins its new term —The Hill

Levine & Pilkington: Elections attacked at every level 

“The [anti-democracy] movement threatens American elections from the top down and the bottom up at the same time. At the top, there is a push to install statewide officials who would have no reservations about making baseless claims of fraud and overturning an election result. From the bottom, it seeks to harass, threaten, and ultimately remove nonpartisan local election officials and make it harder for them to administer elections. If there is an overarching strategy to the movement—and it’s not clear there is one—it seems to be to cause as much chaos, as much confusion, and as much uncertainty, as possible.” —Sam Levine & Ed Pilkington in The Guardian

Sam Levine is a national reporter at The Guardian who covers U.S. voting rights. Ed Pilkington is the chief reporter for The Guardian’s U.S. edition. He is the author of “Beyond the Mother Country.”

MORE: Elections, Violence, and the Future of American Democracy —Council on Foreign Relations

Gruber & Kresky: Don’t close our primaries!

“This is not a conservative-versus-liberal issue. … We have a real opportunity to build a left/right coalition of voters across the South who stand for the simple principle that our democracy only works when every vote is counted equally. Voters of all political stripes have much to lose from the imposition of a system of voting that forces them to pick sides and stay in their lanes.” —Jeremy Gruber & Harry Kresky in The Fulcrum

Jeremy Gruber is the senior vice president of Open Primaries. Harry Kresky is counsel to IndependentVoting.org. Along with Michael Hardy, they are co-authors of “Let All Voters Vote: Independents and the Expansion of Voting Rights in the United States.”

MORE: Election officials confront a new problem: Whether they can trust their own poll workers —Politico

Focus on the Trump investigation 

We know, we know…which investigation? Today, it’s all about those stolen documents. First, the National Archives informed the House Oversight Committee on Friday that it still doesn’t have all of the outstanding records it requested from Donald Trump. Then came word yesterday that after turning over 15 boxes of government material, which he packed himself back in January, Trump directed a lawyer working for him to tell the archives that he had returned all the documents he had taken from the White House. The lawyer, Alex Cannon, who was a point of contact with NARA officials, refused to comply with Trump’s request because he was not sure if it was true. Then today, Trump made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that restored the Justice Department's access to the classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. You can’t help but wonder: just what is he trying to hide? —ABC News

MORE: Oath Keepers trial: Rhodes attacked ‘bedrock of democracy’ on Jan. 6, prosecutors say —The Washington Post

Rubin: Building an open pro-democracy coalition

“Pro-democracy forces need every single Republican or Republican-leaning independent they can get. It would be churlish and politically dumb to turn help away. The smarter Democrats—not only [Rep. Tom] Malinowski and [Arizona gubernatorial candidate Katie] Hobbs, but also Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro—are welcoming Republicans with open arms, not chasing them off with a litmus test. That’s the only hope America has to build a pro-democracy, anti-MAGA coalition that is going to keep election deniers, radicals, and outright racists from gaining power.” —Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post

Jennifer Rubin is an attorney and political opinion columnist at The Washington Post.

MORE: Polarized thinking is connected to anxiety and depression —The Fulcrum

Baer: Don’t stand idly by

“Warnings about democratic fragility have to be taken seriously, because the frightening rise in political violence, the scapegoating of minorities, curtailing of rights, and open talk of subverting elections means that everything is on the line. … We each have a choice to make right now: to engage or sit on the sidelines. To push back against forces pulling our country toward authoritarianism, or to stand by idly as we lose our rights and form of governance, first slowly, then all at once.” —Lauren Baer in Miami Herald

Lauren Baer served as a senior advisor to U.S. Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. She is the managing partner of Arena.

MORE: Misperceptions about out-partisans’ democratic values may erode democracy —Scientific Reports

Delighted that you're asking about election innovations as a way to better government. I expect you've heard the Gehl/Porter view of the duopoly. We are strong believers that Final 5 or Top 4 are the most important innovations on the landscape. Short term, we've been gratified by the progress of the bipartisan work on the Electoral Count Reform Act. —Michael O., New York

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Renew America Foundation.