Kagan says Supreme Court rulings harm democratic functioning

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said the court had failed to account for how its election-law decisions affect American democracy, arguing that the rulings have left the political system functioning less effectively than it should. Kagan made the remarks Tuesday at Catholic University’s law school in Washington, where she discussed voting rights, campaign finance and partisan redistricting. She said the court had blinded itself to the consequences of its decisions. Her assessment was an argument about the rulings’ effects, not an independently established finding that the decisions caused the problems she described. She criticized recent decisions narrowing federal voting-rights protections and striking down campaign-finance restrictions, both of which she opposed in dissents. In discussing the Voting Rights Act, Kagan objected to a ruling that gave state lawmakers greater latitude over congressional maps, saying such changes could weaken voters’ ability to elect their preferred candidates. She also challenged the court’s approach to limits on coordination between political parties and candidates. Kagan said election law was among the court’s most important areas because a...