As a defense!
That’s not the only time either. Again and again in Gerrymandering and voter suppression cases they say it flat out when all their horse shit has been knocked down. More than once it’s been flat out “I don’t think Democrats should be allowed to vote”.
It’s still a fig leaf though. As it stands it’s not illegal to target people like this based on party affiliation. Why the fuck not I can’t fathom. But so long as they’re saying “we want to disenfranchise Democrats, and just totally by coincidence we happened to disenfranchise Blacks while doing it” it’s a legally plausible defense. One their base won’t blink at.
