"Today, The Supreme Court Pulled Those Teeth Out
What today’s ruling unleashes
Florida’s legislature did not wait for the ink to dry. Within hours, lawmakers there approved a new map handing Republicans up to four additional seats in Congress.
Officials in states across the South are already preparing to redraw their lines before November.
Press Robinson, a civil rights activist in Baton Rouge who grew up during segregation in South Carolina, says the consequences will reach every level of government. Judges. School board members. City council seats. County commissioners. He predicts Black representation gets wiped out from the courthouse to the statehouse, and he believes this country will slide back toward where the country stood when slavery ended.
I think Mr. Robinson is right.
The Trump White House issued a statement calling the decision a complete and total victory for American voters. Read that line again. Civil rights leaders describe the ruling as a betrayal.
The ruling erases political representation for millions of Black Americans across the South. The President of the United States calls the same ruling a victory for voters.
That single statement tells you exactly who the administration sees as a voter, and who the administration does not.
This Fight Belongs To You
You might be thinking this fight belongs to someone else. You would be wrong.
Here is why every American should be furious today, regardless of your race, your party, your zip code, or your tax bracket.
When the Court allows states to dilute the votes of any group of citizens, the principle protecting your vote weakens too. The Voting Rights Act stood as the last firewall between a self-governing republic and a system where politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their politicians. Today the Court took a sledgehammer to the firewall.
If you are a parent, your kids will grow up in a country where their representation in Congress depends on which party drew the map after the last census.
If you are a small-business owner, the elected officials setting tax rates and regulations in your state increasingly answer to gerrymandered constituencies, not real communities.
If you are a teacher, a nurse, a firefighter, a veteran, or a retiree, your vote loses weight every time a state legislature carves up your community to serve a partisan map.
This is not abstract. This is your government.
The Road Back To A Fair Map
Here is the truth no one in Washington wants to say out loud. The Supreme Court does not get the final word in a democracy. You do.
Turnout matters first. November is coming. Civil rights leaders have already named record turnout among pro-democracy voters as the strongest response available. They are right. A map drawn to suppress your community only works when your community stays home. Show up.
Local action matters next. School boards. City councils. State legislatures. County clerks who run elections. These offices decide how laws get put into practice.
They decide how voter rolls get maintained. They certify elections. Pay attention to who runs in your county and your state, and back the candidates who defend your right to vote.
Then there is Congress. Elected representatives passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A president signed the law. Congress expanded the law multiple times across both parties. What Congress made, Congress repairs.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act has been reintroduced in the current session. Call your senator. Call your House representative. Send an email. Show up at a town hall. Tell them you remember today."
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