ST. PAUL, Minn. — Yesterday, the Robert’s Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in Callais v. Louisiana gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA), dismantling Section 2, the last standing provision of the historic federal civil rights law that outlawed racial discrimination in voting and redistricting.
The Court’s decision strikes down Louisiana’s congressional maps that created an additional majority-minority district after its previous maps were found to have discriminated against Black voters. Before the creation of the map in question, Louisiana’s congressional maps included only one majority-black district out of the state’s six districts, despite Black residents comprising 30% of the state’s population.
In the conservative majority’s opinion, Justice Samuel Alito functionally overturned decades of precedent to decide that Section 2 of the VRA can only be used to prevent racial discrimination in drawing political districts if it can be proven that a state intentionally discriminated against a minority group while creating maps – a change which functionally sets an impossible bar for challenges against racial gerrymandering.
This ruling undermines the last pillar of the Voting Rights Act, which has been used to protect the freedom to vote and prevent discrimination and corruption in elections for over 60 years. Under this change, politicians can weaken and suppress the power of voters and discriminate against voters of color without legal consequence.
In response to SCOTUS’s ruling, chairs of the Minnesota Legislature’s Inclusive Democracy Caucus – Senator Liz Boldon (DFL-Rochester), Representative Cedrick Frazier (DFL-New Hope), and Representative Emma Greenman (DFL-Minneapolis) – released the following statement:
“Yesterday, the MAGA Justices on the United States Supreme Court destroyed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in an escalation of their undemocratic playbook to undermine multi-racial democracy and give themselves more power. This death blow to the Voting Rights Act is a legal travesty and a political power grab. The generations before us were brutalized and many were killed for their advocacy and in their fight to enfranchise more Americans. We must commit ourselves to honoring their legacy, defending their historic accomplishments, and building a democracy that reflects the people it represents. We cannot allow right-wing extremists to continue to drag us backwards to a pre-VRA era of segregation, racial gerrymandering, and disenfranchisement. With a mere stroke of a pen, these Justices are doing just that.
“The public expects our leaders, whether elected or appointed, to govern on their behalf and in the interest of everyone, not just the wealthy few. But instead, the Robert’s Court is handing Trump and MAGA politicians the power to seize control and prevent Black and brown votes from counting so that their billionaire backers can control our future.
“But as we know first-hand in Minnesota, the power of the people is more powerful than these MAGA justices and tyrants in power. The many can defeat the money if we stand up for the freedom to vote and stand united against any attempt to disenfranchise the voting power of Black and brown citizens.”
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