The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais did not surprise anyone who has been paying attention. The 6-3 ruling on April 29 effectively gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, allowing states to dismantle majority-minority districts and clearing the way for a wave of mid-decade redistricting already underway in Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and beyond. The dissents from Justices Kagan and Jackson named what the majority did the “now-completed demolition” of the Voting Rights Act. The political class is scrambling to respond.
The instinct of the response so far has been right, but incomplete. New maps. New litigation. State-level Voting Rights Acts. Congressional pressure. All necessary. None sufficient.
