04/29/2026
SCOTUS is Corrupt!
Today’s Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais is the culmination of John Roberts’ two-decade crusade to gut the Voting Rights Act. It is, simply put, a devastating blow to American democracy.
On its face, Callais strikes down a congressional map drawn to remedy decades of racist gerrymandering by establishing what would have been only the second majority-Black district in Louisiana. Which is bad enough. But this ruling will not be limited to Louisiana. Callais opens the door for states to gerrymander Black and Brown majority districts out of existence, suppress those communities’ votes and representation, and write them out of government of, by, and for the people. As long as legislatures aren’t open about the racial aims of the gerrymander, it’ll all be perfectly legal.
Effectively freed of the VRA’s barriers against racist gerrymandering, GOP-led states could add as many as 19 new Republican-leaning seats to the House in the coming years and hundreds of GOP seats at the state level — bringing conservatives closer to their dream of a permanent House majority. We can’t pretend that the situation isn’t dire. Callais likely comes too late to have a direct impact on the midterms, but we expect GOP-led states to very quickly craft proposals to disenfranchise Black and Brown voters in time for 2027 state legislative elections and 2028 federal elections.
Join us and a broad coalition of partners on a mass rapid response call tomorrow to discuss the ruling’s implications and plan next steps. We need our backlash to meet and exceed that intensity. Without control of any branch of the federal government right now, these fights will be carried out on the state level. Over the coming weeks, months, and years, we’ll provide ways to tap into those fights, from wherever you live, by engaging directly and nonviolently or by supporting civil rights orgs leading the way.
A Supreme Court ruling is no small matter, but we the people — in particular, Black and Brown Americans — have opposed tyranny in the past. The road may be longer than we hoped, but we will win. Again.