“The Voting Rights Act changed the face and the structure of American politics—and government,” justice correspondent Elie Mystalwrites. And “on Wednesday, Roberts and his cabal of ruling Republicans finally completed their quest to suppress the strength of the emerging non-white majority in this country.”
Louisiana v. Callais “effectively ends any protection against racial gerrymandering and vote dilution, and opens the doors to redistricting across the South that will likely decimate Black and Latino representation in Congress, as well as state legislatures and municipal governments,” David Daleyfurther explains. And while this case is very much about Black people, “women should be concerned too,” arguesMichelle Goodwin, “especially given state and federal efforts to disenfranchise women’s voting power.”
But it’s not time to give up. New York Attorney General Letitia James leaves us with a stirring call to action: “This institutional injustice will not deter our efforts to ensure that every American has the representation and resources they deserve. Despite the hardships the heroes of the civil rights movement encountered, they marched on. So must we. We cannot afford not to.”
In its 6–3 decision, the court gutted the legislation that ended apartheid in this country—and once again gave white people the ability to suppress Black political power.
The Supreme Court’s decision is a cruel blow to our democracy. But our efforts to ensure that every American has the representation and resources they deserve will not stop.
Increasingly unpopular and facing a fracturing coalition, Trump is using government power to punish his critics, take political revenge, and revel in his own cruelty.