The Democrats Are Five Years Too Late to the Voting Rights Fight

"The Supreme Court's decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which functionally disabled the Voting Rights Act, has spurred a new wave of Jim Crow gerrymandering all throughout the South. Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessse are all moving quickly to redraw their maps ahead of the midterm elections and make sure that Black people who live in those states have no opportunity to elect a representative of their choosing."

"Democrats had hoped to offset the loss of Black representation by heavily gerrymandering states where they control the legislature, but a ruling from the Virginia State Supreme Court struck down one of those aggressive Democratic gerrymanders. That ruling was unhinged: by a 4-3 majority, the state supreme court ruled that the Virginia legislature didn't follow proper procedures for amending the state constitution to create a new map."

"Not only was the court's reasoning spurious, but it also blithely overlooked the fact that this new map was recently approved by a voter referendum. As unconscionable as the ruling was, it seems to have finally delivered a long overdue memo to Democratic politicians: Republican-controlled courts will allow Republicans to gerrymander their way to victory but won't allow Democrats to do the same thing."

"Republican-controlled courts are against the idea of Democrats and especially Black people holding political power, and they will do everything in their considerable power to prevent that from happening. Republican judges are not concerned with laws or precedents or facts or fairness. They are concerned with winning."

Virginia Democrats appealed to the Supreme Court to preserve a new congressional map. The Democratic Party is described as weakened by Supreme Court action that functionally disabled the Voting Rights Act, prompting new gerrymandering across the South. Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee are said to be redrawing maps before midterm elections to limit Black voters’ ability to elect preferred representatives. Democrats previously tried to offset losses by gerrymandering in states they control, but a Virginia State Supreme Court ruling struck down a Democratic gerrymander. The ruling is characterized as improper because it allegedly ignored that the map was approved by voter referendum. The piece concludes that Republican-controlled courts prioritize winning over laws, precedents, facts, or fairness.

Read at The Nation