Supreme Court Dismantles Voting Rights Act Evoking Jim Crow Era Fears
In Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court nominally upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 while effectively undermining its purpose, a decision widely criticized as a severe blow to voting rights. The Court sided with a group of voters challenging Louisiana’s congressional map, which included two majority-Black districts based on the state’s Black population percentage. This ruling shifts the legal focus from discriminatory outcomes to the intent of map drawers, a move that civil rights advocates warn could enable racial gerrymandering and return the nation to a pre-civil rights era.
John Q. Hosedrinker