Kevin Spacey is going on trial in federal court. Here's what you need to know.

"Star Trek: Discovery" star Anthony Rapp is suing Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey over an alleged sexual assault in 1986, when Rapp was 14.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/kevin-spacey-going-trial-federal-court-need-know-rcna50443

Five years after “Rent” star Anthony Rapp publicly accused the Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey of sexual assault when Rapp was a teenager, a jury will hear the case in federal court in New York.

The civil trial is scheduled to start Thursday in downtown Manhattan at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Here’s what you need to know about the lawsuit.

What are Rapp’s allegations?

Rapp filed a lawsuit against Spacey (whose real name is Kevin Spacey Fowler) in September 2020. Rapp alleged that Spacey acted to gratify his sexual desire during an encounter at a Manhattan party in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey would have been 26 or 27.

Rapp is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The trial will center on Rapp’s claims of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The judge assigned to the case dismissed a sexual assault claim because Rapp brought it too late, according to a court document filed in June.

“Mr. Rapp claims that Mr. Fowler lifted him up, that Mr. Fowler’s hand his [sic] ‘grazed’ Mr. Rapp’s clothed buttocks for seconds as he did so, that Mr. Fowler placed Mr. Rapp back-down on a bed, and Mr. Fowler then briefly placed his own clothed body partially beside and partially across Mr. Rapp’s,” according to the court document.

Rapp “wriggled out” and left the party. He testified at his deposition that “there was no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes, and no sexualized statements or innuendo,” according to the court document. He alleges the encounter lasted no more than two minutes.

Spacey denies Rapp’s allegations.

Could the Supreme Court’s Ruling in Alabama Gerrymandering Case Further Dilute Black Voting Power?

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/could-supreme-court-ruling-alabama-170052310.html

As their new term begins, the Supreme Court is due to hear two cases concerning voting rights. One in particular concerning gerrymandered maps in Alabama could further dilute the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 depending on how the conservative-weighted court votes. Starting on Tuesday, the Supreme Court is due to hear arguments in the Merrill v. Milligan case, as USA Today notes.

While Alabama’s current Black population is at 27%, Alabama’s proposed voting maps would give only one of the state’s seven congressional districts a chance to elect a Black representative. In January, a three-judge panel ruled the maps violated the Voting Rights Act and create a second district where Black voters either made up a majority or near majority of the population. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court then sided with Alabama in a 5-4 vote stating that such maps would be too close to the spring primaries to make this change.

The main argument is that if these maps are allowed to stand, this gives Black Alabama citizens no chance to elect representatives to elevate their interests.

From the Associated Press:

“This is just about getting Black voters, finally, in Alabama, the opportunity to elect their candidates of choice. It’s not necessarily guaranteeing that they will have their candidate elected,” said Deuel Ross, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is representing the plaintiffs.

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