STATEMENT ON SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS ACT DECISION

The Voting Rights Act has protected minorities and prevented discrimination for decades by requiring districts be drawn so minorities are fairly represented. Yesterday, the politicized Supreme Court gutted these protections by ruling that Louisiana’s creation of a second majority-Black district was unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.

This decision is a complete reversal from just three years ago when Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh joined the three liberal justices to reject the exact same arguments in Allen v. Milligan, the Alabama case. They offered no legal reasoning or explanation for this dramatic change.

What this means:

At least 15 congressional districts currently represented by Black members of Congress are now at risk of being eliminated through redistricting.

Before yesterday’s ruling, states were required to prove their maps did not dilute minority voting power—a discriminatory effect standard. Now, under this new interpretation, plaintiffs must prove discriminatory intent—a nearly impossible burden that requires finding a “smoking gun” of explicit racist motivation.

This opens the door for racist motives to return to how congressional maps are drawn, without any meaningful mechanism to protect against discrimination. Racists can now say one thing publicly to overcome legal challenges while acting behind closed doors to silence minority voices.

This gutting of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act sets us back as a nation over 50 years. States can claim political gerrymandering when they are acting to suppress minority voices with illegal racial gerrymandering, and the Court is allowing it. Gerrymandering, in general, is an attack on democracy and is something we must address; but racial gerrymandering is disgusting on a whole other level.

When I’m in Congress, I will fight to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore these protections and defend every American’s right to fair representation. Democracy only works when everyone’s voice is heard. Yesterday’s decision made that harder. But we won’t stop fighting.