05/13/2026
Sixty-one years ago, Americans marched, bled, and died for the right to vote. Congress responded with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in our nation’s history.
Last week, the Supreme Court’s six-justice conservative majority effectively eviscerated Section 2 of that law in Louisiana v. Callais, clearing the way for states to engage in the discriminatory practice of vote dilution against Black and brown voters. Justice Elena Kagan warned in dissent that plaintiffs challenging schemes designed to dilute minority representation will now find it “nearly impossible” to succeed in court.
Republican-controlled Southern states wasted no time.
Louisiana halted a congressional primary already underway to redraw its map and eliminate a majority-Black district. Tennessee moved to crack the district anchored by Memphis, the state’s largest Black city, splitting it across three Republican-held districts to dilute Black voting power into meaninglessness. Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina immediately began efforts to dismantle court-ordered maps designed to ensure Black voters had a meaningful voice in choosing their representatives.
The practical result, if these efforts succeed, will be the near-elimination of Black representation in Congress across much of the South.
And this ruling does not stop at Congress. It applies to state legislatures, county commissions, city councils, and school boards, every level of government where representation shapes the lives of real people.
Delaware Democrats believe the right to vote, and the right to have that vote count equally, is not negotiable. We will continue to fight for every Delawarean’s voice in our democracy in Dover, in Washington, and wherever that fight must be taken.
