{"id":1842,"date":"2026-04-29T18:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/tragic-day-for-the-freedom-to-vote-supreme-court-guts-remnants-of-voting-rights-act\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T18:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:25:00","slug":"tragic-day-for-the-freedom-to-vote-supreme-court-guts-remnants-of-voting-rights-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/tragic-day-for-the-freedom-to-vote-supreme-court-guts-remnants-of-voting-rights-act\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Tragic day for the freedom to vote\u2019: Supreme Court guts remnants of Voting Rights Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on <\/em>April 29, 2026<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> It is shared here under a\u00a0Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)\u00a0license.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0US <\/a>Supreme<\/a> Court<\/a>\u00a0ruled Wednesday that Louisiana must redraw its 2024 congressional map\u2014which created a second majority-Black district to mitigate persistent barriers to equal representation\u2014in a decision that further guts the already tattered\u00a0Voting Rights<\/a>\u00a0Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The justices ruled 6-3 along ideological lines in Louisiana v. Callais<\/em><\/a> that the state\u2019s map is \u201can unconstitutional racial gerrymander,\u201d effectively voiding the last remaining provision of Section 2<\/a> of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA), which allows voters of color to challenge racially discriminatory electoral maps in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case centers on the redrawing of Louisiana\u2019s six congressional districts to better reflect the population of a state in which one-third of the people are Black, as Section 2 states that minority voters should have the same chance as others to elect candidates of their choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civil and voting rights advocates challenged Louisiana\u2019s Republican-drawn and racially rigged congressional map. In 2022, a federal judge agreed<\/a> that the map likely violated Section 2, and the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld<\/a> that ruling, ordering Louisiana to draw a new map by January 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Louisiana complied. But a group of non-Black voters challenged the new map, claiming it was a racially rigged creation that violated the 14th<\/sup>\u00a0Amendment. The\u00a0Trump administration<\/a>\u00a0supported the challengers, arguing that Black voters had no right to a second majority-minority district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s\u00a0right-wing<\/a>\u00a0justices\u2014three of whom were nominated by Trump\u2014agreed in Wednesday\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAllowing race to play any part in government decision-making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context,\u201d Justice\u00a0Samuel Alito<\/a>\u00a0wrote for the right-wing majority. \u201cCompliance with Section 2 thus could not justify the state\u2019s use of race-based redistricting here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dissenting, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the ruling represents the \u201clatest chapter in the majority\u2019s now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kagan said the majority \u201cstraight-facedly holds that the Voting Rights Act must be brought low to make the world safe for partisan gerrymanders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signed into law<\/a>\u00a0in 1965 by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson amid a groundswell of\u00a0civil rights<\/a>\u00a0activism<\/a>, the VRA was meant to ensure that state and local governments could not \u201cdeny or abridge the right of any citizen of the\u00a0United States<\/a>\u00a0to vote on account of race or color.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the law has been\u00a0eroded<\/a>\u00a0in recent decades by Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country, including through\u00a0racially rigged<\/a>\u00a0and other\u00a0gerrymandered<\/a>\u00a0congressional maps,\u00a0restrictions<\/a>\u00a0on voter registration,\u00a0reduction<\/a>\u00a0in early voting options, and\u00a0voter identification laws<\/a>. These measures disproportionately disenfranchise minority voters, and some\u00a0GOP<\/a>\u00a0officials have\u00a0admitted<\/a>\u00a0that they are intended to give Republican candidates an electoral edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, the\u00a0Supreme Court<\/a>\u00a0dealt a major blow to the VRA in\u00a0Shelby County v. Holder<\/em><\/a>, which eviscerated a key section of the law that required jurisdictions with a history of racist disenfranchisement to obtain federal approval prior to altering voting rules. In 2021, the nation\u2019s high court voted 5-4 in\u00a0Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>to uphold Arizona\u2019s voting restrictions\u2014even as Chief Justice John Roberts\u00a0acknowledged<\/a>\u00a0that they disproportionately affect minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voting rights defenders decried Wednesday\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The court\u2019s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais follows cases that have narrowed federal voter protections, like Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee.Together, these cases have made it harder for voters of color to challenge discriminatory voting laws and practices.<\/p>— ACLU (@aclu.org)<\/a> 2026-04-29T15:20:56.749Z<\/a><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis devastating attack from the court majority destroys protections for voters of color across the country,\u201d the ACLU said<\/a> on Bluesky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe impacts of the court\u2019s ruling in this case will be felt across the country,\u201d the group added. \u201cRedistricting remains ongoing in many states, and the severe weakening of Section 2 may affect future challenges to congressional, legislative, and local maps that dilute the voting strength of communities of color.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson called<\/a> the decision \u201ca devastating blow to what remains of the Voting Rights Act, and a license for corrupt politicians who want to rig the system by silencing entire communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristen Clarke, NAACP\u2019s general counsel, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is one of the most consequential and devastating rulings issued by the Supreme Court in the 21st Century. The Supreme Court has put the death knell into our nation\u2019s most important federal civil rights law, one that provided Black Americans access to a\u00a0democracy<\/a>\u00a0that they had long been excluded from. The ruling defies precedent, ignores statutory text, and will reverse decades of progress we have made as a nation. This will embolden lawmakers in former slave-holding states to target and eradicate districts that have provided Black Americans a fair opportunity to elect candidates of choice, and they will do so with the blessing of this court. It ignores the tremendous sacrifice made by Americans who bled and died for passage of the Voting Rights Act.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Demand Justice president Josh Orton said in a statement, \u201cToday the Supreme Court gutted the remaining protections of the Voting Rights Act and handed [President]\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0even more unchecked political power as he wields the presidency like a power-mad authoritarian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake no mistake: This ruling isn\u2019t about the law, it\u2019s about power, and giving\u00a0Republicans<\/a>\u00a0more\u00a0US House<\/a>\u00a0seats they couldn\u2019t otherwise win at the ballot box, all while trampling the voting rights of communities of color,\u201d Orton added. \u201cToday\u2019s decision is another example of why the Supreme Court has lost both its legitimacy and the trust of the American people. It must face fundamental reform if it is to once again serve our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nourbese\u00a0Flint<\/a>, president of the reproductive justice group All* Above All, lamented that \u201cthe Supreme Court yet again denies communities of color a voice in their own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is part of a coordinated assault on self-determination, and we have to name it as such,\u201d Flint added. \u201cThe same court that gutted the Voting Rights Act came for Roe<\/em><\/a>. If we are serious about defending reproductive justice that means we have to defend democracy and reform this extremist court.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stand Up America managing director of policy and political affairs Brett Edkins called Wednesday \u201ca tragic day for the freedom to vote and representative democracy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Supreme Court just eviscerated the last remnants of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and opened the door to even more extreme\u00a0gerrymandering<\/a>\u00a0that will try to drown out the voices of Black and brown voters, particularly in the South,\u201d Edkins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NEW: The Supreme Court just gutted the Voting Rights Act, enabling the GOP to erase countless districts drawn to protect voters of color at the congressional, state, & local levels.We detailed each Dem VRA congressional seat that the GOP could target by 2028: www.the-downballot.com\/p\/with-the-v…<\/p>— Stephen Wolf (@stephenwolf.bsky.social)<\/a> 2026-04-29T15:00:34.946Z<\/a><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe court\u2019s decision will escalate the arms race of partisan gerrymanders across the country and could lead to Republican-controlled states redrawing election maps to add an\u00a0additional 19 GOP House<\/a>\u00a0seats,\u201d Edkins continued. \u201cThis partisan court has handed a major election-year gift to\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0and congressional Republicans who are trying to cling to power despite their growing unpopularity with voters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for Congress to act as a check on this rogue court through major reforms,\u201d he added, \u201cincluding term limits, an enforceable code of ethics, and adding more justices who will defend our fundamental freedoms once Trump leaves office.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
article,elections,midterms,Reprint,Voting Rights\r\n
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