Reposted by @pmullis61.bsky.social
Jack Smith: "History teaches that the rule of law is rarely destroyed all at once. It's often weakened by attacks on the institutions and the public servants sworn to uphold it. Since January 2025, we have witnessed precisely such an effort."
![screenshot of a three-paragraph excerpt from the quote-skeeted article, with the final sentences of the third paragraph highlighted in grey, from "and now" onwards. excerpt reads as follows:
When he appeared before the state Senate that day to testify against the new redistricting plans, he was joined by three other veteran Black politicians. Although Fields, a 63-year-old lawyer, has a reputation as an even-keeled consensus builder, he grew emotional as he spoke.
“To me, it is personal,” he told the Senate committee. “Since Reconstruction, Louisiana has elected four African Americans to Congress. And you’re looking at all of them. Four.” Even though nearly a third of Louisiana’s population is Black.
“You said something very profound,” state Sen. Gary Carter Jr., an African American Democrat from New Orleans, told Fields. “From the 1870s all the way through [the] present, just you four gentlemen—that’s it. And now this body wants to reduce that. ‘We want to cut it. That’s too many.’ How do we not be outraged?”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kjklbsuepdppuppsfluytydl/bafkreicc3jzq4std3st5bqszp7m2ng6ajhderlvk52o6zyru4rs2i6xgbe)
