SCOTUS Voting Rights Decision is ‘Almost as Bad as It Gets’

When the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision on Wednesday that all but invalidates the Voting Rights Act, legal and voting-rights analysts called it a knockout blow to a powerful tool against racial discrimination at the ballot box. Political analysts predicted it would dismantle Black political power for a generation — or longer. 

Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was more succinct: “It’s evil genius, man.” 

“This is a really slick opinion” that technically leaves the Voting Rights Act in place, but dismantles the enforcement mechanism and prevents an easy legislative fix, he says. “It ends up being a rewriting of the VRA” that “usurps” Congress’s power to write laws. 

“We’re left with rights on paper but very few remedies, in fact,” Hewitt says. “This is about as bad as it gets.” 

Louisiana Map Disputed

In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservative supermajority dismantled Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the last remaining powerful provision of the 1965 civil rights law that prevents racial discrimination in voting. Section 2, which requires states to seek federal permission before changing voting laws, has been a bulwark against the marginalization of minority voters in redistricting.

At issue was a Louisiana congressional map that was specifically redrawn to create two majority-Black districts. Opponents of the plan sued, alleging the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Samuel Alito said taking race into consideration in creating Louisiana’s two new congressional seats — even though the state’s Black voters had been underrepresented in Congress for decades — represents “a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context.”

The court’s three liberals, however, decried the decision and accused the conservative majority of “eviscerating” voting rights for millions of Americans. Their dissent, written by Justice Elena Kagan, warned that this ruling, combined with other actions, could lead to a resegregation of American society, effectively locking out minority voters.

Upending Decades of Law

“The Voting Rights Act is—or, now more accurately, was—‘one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nation’s history,’” she wrote.

“It was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers. It ushered in awe-inspiring change, bringing this Nation closer to fulfilling the ideals of democracy and racial equality,” she added. “And it has been repeatedly, and overwhelmingly, reauthorized by the people’s representatives in Congress. Only they have the right to say it is no longer needed—not the Members of this Court.”

The court’s decision is a major upheaval in U.S. civil rights law and gives lawmakers permission to draw districting plans that weaken the influence of Black and other minority voters. Some states may even rush ahead to try to redraw districts ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

In a statement, former President Barack Obama was blunt, calling the decision “just one more example of how a majority of the current Court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach.”

But Obama also saw a silver lining: “The good news is that such setbacks can be overcome” at the ballot box.  “But that will only happen if citizens across the country who cherish our democratic ideals continue to mobilize and vote in record numbers” in every election, not just the upcoming midterms. 

‘Herculean Task’

Hewett, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights president, agrees. But, he says, it won’t be easy. 

The ruling “impairs black political power but doesn’t impair access to the ballot,” he says, noting that only a handful of states have the time and inclination to take advantage of the ruling this year. That’s because it takes time to redraw the maps and find candidates who qualify, and several states have already held congressional primary elections. 

“I think the real action is between now and what happens in state houses next year,” he says. “A year from now, I think we’ll see a lot of damage” when states, looking for an edge in the 2028 congressional elections, begin redrawing voting maps. 

“By that point, it’s completely open season on racial gerrymandering masked as partisanship,” Hewett says. “There will be a lot of bad results” with Black representatives losing their seats in newly gerrymandered districts. 

Nevertheless, he says, his and other organizations “will keep pushing” even though “there is no easy solution. It’s a Herculean task. We’re in a time right now where we can only defend the laws of the past,” and a new approach is needed. 

The bottom line, Hewett says, is “Black people in this country have never enjoyed full representation of power. This decision makes it much less likely that we ever will.” 

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