Chief Justice Misconstrued Census Data

“At the voting rights argument in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts tore into Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, grilling him on his knowledge of voting statistics,” NPR reports.

“The point the chief justice was trying to make was that Massachusetts, which is not covered by the preclearance section of the Voting Rights Act, has a far worse record in black voter registration and turnout than Mississippi, which is covered by Section 5 of the act.”

“But a close look at census statistics indicates the chief justice was wrong, or at least that he did not look at the totality of the numbers.”