The Supreme Court started its new term this week, and it will soon consider critical questions about the future of fair elections, affirmative action, and more. So far, the 6–3 supermajority has shown no qualms about disregarding precedents, deciding unnecessary issues, and using staunch originalism in order to pursue a conservative legal agenda. While we have no definitive information on how the Court might rule in the upcoming cases, its behavior last term gives us good indicators of what to watch for.

This week, the Supreme Court heard a redistricting case that could gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act. Alabama is asking to radically rewrite the decades-old rules that let minority voters challenge discriminatory electoral maps under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. If the Court rules in the state’s favor, it will sharply limit the ability of communities of color to fight maps that dilute their political strength and make it harder for minority voters to be fairly represented.

As Florida prepares to hold midterm elections in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, it must learn from its mistakes with 2018’s Hurricane Michael, which damaged polling places and caused a significant drop in voter turnout. To avoid a repeat of these failures, Florida needs to commit real resources to keep polling places open, establish emergency poll sites for voters if necessary, and find other flexible ways to help displaced people vote.

The FBI just released crime data for 2021 using its recently updated method for data collection and reporting. With many state and local law enforcement agencies failing to report a full year’s worth of data under the modernized system, the influential annual report has notable blind spots. Moreover, the changes may also significantly complicate public understanding of recent state and national crime trends. The Brennan Center explains what to keep in mind when looking at the numbers.

Debate is raging over the status of the hundreds of government documents that Donald Trump improperly kept at Mar-a-Lago: What information could be in them, and why were they classified? How does the classification process work? Can a president truly declassify information just by thinking about it? A new Brennan Center explainer addresses these questions and examines what they mean for Trump’s criminal liability.