The Supreme Court Hacks Away at the Voting Rights Act Yet Again
The Supreme Court's 6–3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais further weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by ruling against the creation of a second majority-minority congressional district in Louisiana, despite lower courts having found the original map diluted Black voting power. The majority opinion prioritized a 'color-blind' interpretation of the Constitution, drawing on Justice Harlan's Plessy dissent, while critics argue this ignores the historical purpose of the post-Civil War Amendments. The ruling is expected to prompt new legal battles over racial gerrymandering and voting rights across the country.
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The Supreme Court Hacks Away at the Voting Rights Act Yet AgainGet ready for new fights over racist gerrymandering.Kim WehleApr 30, 202611Share(Photo illustration by The Bulwark / Photos: Shutterstock)THE U.S. SUPREME COURT’S RIGHT-WING MAJORITY gutted what remained of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on Wednesday. In a 6–3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, the Court picked a favored outcome then contorted (you might even say gerrymandered) the law to fit it, all while ignoring the history of the post-Civil War Amendments to the Constitution and Congress’s unequivocal and overwhelmingly bipartisan goals in passing the Voting Rights Act in the first place.Worse still, the justices are probably not finished disemboweling the country’s decades-long legacy of remedying generations of racial…
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