SCOTUS Guts Voting Rights Act by Eviscerating a Key Provision That Prevented Racial Discrimination
April 29, 2026
Washington, DC — On Tuesday, the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map on Wednesday that added a second majority-Black district, a decision that carries dangerous implications for the future of the Voting Rights Act. Advancement Project Interim Executive Director Carmen Daugherty shared the following statement:
“Today’s decision marks a dark day for civil rights and American democracy. By eviscerating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the Court has stripped voters of one of the last effective tools to challenge racially discriminatory maps and ensure fair representation for people of color. The ruling invites states to dilute Black and brown voting power and will result in aggressive racial gerrymandering that will shrink minority representation in government.
“This antidemocratic ruling completes the Court’s demolition of the most transformative achievement of the civil rights movement, inevitably leading to minority voters having less of an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to Congress and to state legislatures, county commissions, city councils, and school boards around the country. Advancement Project stands in solidarity with people’s movements across the country and is ready to use all the tools at our disposal to fight for our democracy and to protect the right to vote in these difficult times.”
The Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, has been among the most consequential laws in our nation’s history. Birthed out of the struggle and blood of organizers and movement leaders, it gave people of color the tools to demand and secure free and equal access to the ballot box and fair representation in government. A bipartisan achievement since its original passage, it has been repeatedly reauthorized by overwhelming majorities in Congress over the past sixty years.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits states and localities from imposing voting requirements that result in denying citizens the right to vote on account of race. It outlaws discriminatory burdens on voting as well as political districts drawn to deny a racial group an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice. Passed to combat the wide array of facially race-neutral schemes used by white government officials to deprive Black voters of their voting rights, the law has long been interpreted—by Congress and the Supreme Court—to allow minority voters to sue when a state action diminishes their ability to elect their preferred candidates.
Today’s decision upends more than forty years of precedent, the clear language of the statute, and the intent of the people’s representatives in Congress. It rules that evidence of a racially discriminatory result is no longer sufficient to prevail under Section 2. Instead, minority voters must now prove a strong inference of intentional discrimination. And proving this will be exponentially more difficult: because racial voting is heavily split along partisan lines, and because the Supreme Court has declared it permissible to openly engage in partisan gerrymandering, officials can now more easily cloak their efforts to dilute minority voting power in partisan politics.
This Court has repeatedly issued decisions that have taken the teeth out of the Voting Rights Act. In 2013, it struck down Section 5, the provision that had allowed the Department of Justice to block discriminatory voting laws before they went into effect in jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination and voter suppression. That decision was followed by an avalanche of burdensome voting laws that have made voting harder for people of color. Today’s decision in Callais is another severe blow to the Voting Rights Act. In the face of this Court’s pattern of ruling against civil rights and racial justice plaintiffs, Congress and states must act to develop and implement critical tools in service of voting rights and fair representation.
###
Advancement Project is a next-generation, multi-racial civil rights organization. Rooted in the great human rights struggles for equality and justice, we exist to fulfill America’s promise of a caring, inclusive, and just democracy. We use innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high-impact policy change. Visit www.advancementproject.org to learn more.
