Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais guts the Voting Rights Act, and with it, a fundamental pillar of multiracial democracy in the U.S. The Voting Rights Act is a key piece of Civil Rights era legislation that aimed to ensure Black Americans’ right to vote – and aimed to make real the promise of democracy in the United States.

The Court’s 6-3 ruling invalidated a Louisiana voting map that created a second majority Black congressional district in a state with a total of six U.S. House seats. Approximately one-third of voters in Louisiana are Black, yet the Court’s decision claimed that this map represented an illegal racially-based gerrymander. At the heart of the decision was an interpretation of Article 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which has been used for decades to challenge voting maps that intentionally diluted the voting power of people of color and denied them equitable representation.

The Voting Rights Act is now, as Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissenting opinion, “a dead letter,” as plaintiffs must now show that “intentional discrimination” was a factor in drawing legislative districts. It is no longer enough to show that the impact is discriminatory against Black voters or other minority groups. In short, the majority decision essentially asserts that it is illegal to use race-based redistricting to assure equal representation, but that using race as a factor in partisan gerrymandering is acceptable. 

This decision throws open the door to rampant discrimination so long as it can be justified by “any remotely plausible race-neutral justification,” as Justice Kagan notes in her dissent. There is a long history of such justifications being used to uphold white supremacy in this country and to deprive Black and brown people of fundamental rights. We need look no further than the exclusion of farmworkers and domestic workers from fundamental labor protections; the existence of the subminimum wage for tipped workers, or laws that reduce early voting or extended poll hours to see this logic at play.

The Voting Rights Act was won through the sweat and blood of a generation of activists who fought, and in some cases died, to win the right to vote and make real the promises of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. This Supreme Court decision undoes those gains. 

We join human rights leaders across the country in asserting that this decision is a travesty. Governments have a responsibility to the people. By stripping Black voters of fair and equitable representation, this decision undermines all of our right to be heard and to participate in the thriving multiracial democracy we envision. Without fair representation, communities across the country will continue to struggle to make their voices and needs heard or secure fundamental rights like good schools, decent work, affordable housing, and healthcare. 

As we brace for the impact of this decision, we see ourselves as part of the centuries-long struggle for human rights. Even before yesterday’s ruling, too many people across our country are deprived of these rights. We will continue to support the struggles led by people most impacted by inequality, inequity, and injustice, and build towards a world where all people have a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape their lives.