SCOTUS ruling on voting rights is the Trump administration’s latest attempt to decimate Black political power
From lawsuits to executive orders to FBI raids to confiscate ballots in Democratic cities with large Black populations, this administration has long sought to target African American voting power.
A 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court decision has gutted a key element of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, leaving Black voters twisting in the proverbial wind.
The case, Louisiana v. Callais, centered on the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district in the Southern state. That district, which is currently represented by Democrat Cleo Fields, was deemed to be unconstitutional because the court said it was drawn in a manner that depended too heavily on race. That’s ironic, since the Voting Rights Act was meant to protect Black voters, the very people who are now disenfranchised by this decision.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which outlaws voting practices that cause minority voters to have less opportunity than others to participate in the political process and elect their chosen representatives, has effectively been upended by the court. The decision has opened the door to Republican states seeking to eliminate districts where voters of color form the majority. Such districts tend to favor Democrats, and they are the center of Black political power.
In my view, the destruction of Black power was always the point. But demolishing Black power requires bolstering white supremacy.
That’s why this court case can’t be viewed as a stand-alone attack. It is part of a multipronged effort to silence Black voters. From lawsuits and executive orders against mail-in voting to FBI raids to confiscate ballots in Democratic cities with large Black populations, this administration has sought to target African American voting power at every turn.
Then there’s the Republican-backed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would disproportionately disenfranchise people of color and women by requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport.
The SAVE Act passed the House and stalled in the Senate, but those who would take away our voting rights don’t have to wait for that law to pass. Now that the Supreme Court has scuttled another key element of the Voting Rights Act, Southern states are already considering redistricting plans that dilute Black political representation.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told the Associated Press that states should not be forced to abide by what he calls an unconstitutional racial quota system. His state is currently appealing a federal order requiring Alabama to use a court-drawn map with an additional Black-majority district.
In Tennessee, Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton released a statement saying legislators are reviewing their options. However, Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is a gubernatorial candidate, called for state legislators to draw the state’s only Democratic congressional seat to advantage Republicans.
Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson called for his state to redraw maps now, even though voting for the midterms is already underway.
However, there were many voices on the other side of the equation, sounding the alarm about the dissolution of Black voting rights.
Former President Barack Obama said in a statement on X that the ruling “effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities.”
The advocacy organization Black Voters Matter said the decision left states “free to construct laws that ‘appear’ race neutral on their face, but [prevent] Black and Brown people from electing representation that increases their political power and ability to protect and resource their communities.”
Demolishing Black power requires bolstering white supremacy.
They’re right, of course. But I’m more interested in the organization’s name than I am in their statement.
Black voters matter.
That’s why America has spent centuries trying to keep us from the polls. Black voters matter. That’s why our forebears endured vicious beatings at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. Black voters matter. It’s why we can’t be lulled into a false sense of security while the powerful try to turn us against one another.
Black people were always the target, because it was our enduring cry for freedom that opened doors for so many others. Now we must continue that fight, and we must do it as our ancestors did.
No matter what lines they draw to contain us, we press toward the line of justice.
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