Republicans openly stated their entire game plan during a Supreme Court hearing this week in which an attorney representing the GOP admitted that Republicans can’t win elections unless the high court gives them the green light to enact voter suppression laws.

Democrats contend that at least two voting restrictions in Arizona violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark piece of legislation that the Supreme Court has previously gutted even though the 13th Amendment gives Congress the power to enforce the protection of voting rights for people of color through supportive legislation.

One restriction requires any votes turned in to the incorrect precinct be thrown out. The other bars “ballot harvesting,” which is when organizers or others collect and turn in ballots on behalf of voters who may not be able to get out to a polling place.

Both restrictions are designed to suppress poor, elderly, and minority voters. That makes them clear violations of the Voting Rights Act.

But it seems the 6-3 conservative super-majority on the high court is poised to allow the restrictions to stand and pave the way for hundreds of voter suppression laws over the next two years as part of the GOP plan to steal the 2022 and 2024 Elections, all in response to disgraced former President Donald Trump’s election lies. Republicans are especially targeting absentee voting and vote by mail.

But during the hearing, Republican lawyer Michael Carvin openly argued that the GOP can’t win without voter suppression laws.

“What’s the interest of the Arizona RNC here in keeping, say, the out-of-precinct ballot disqualification rules on the books?” Amy Coney Barrett asked.

“It puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats,” Carvin replied. “Politics is a zero sum game. And every extra vote they get through unlawful interpretations of Section 2 hurts us. It’s the difference between winning an election 50-49 and losing an election.”

In short, Carvin is saying Republicans can’t win when everyone is able to exercise their right to vote freely without obstruction.

Here’s the exchange via Twitter:

If the conservatives on the high court rule in Carvin’s favor, they will have made it clear that they support voter suppression laws that fly in the face of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is supposed to defend and uphold voting rights, not work to restrict them. This kind of corruption is precisely why Senate Democrats must kill the filibuster and expand the court. That’s the only way to bring balance back to the Supreme Court and guarantee that voting rights and democracy will be protected.

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