In 1966 — one year after the Voting Rights Act became the law of the land — the Attorney General of South Carolina went to the Supreme Court to question its constitutionality. Other southern states quickly followed suit. For the first time in history, they were forced to remedy their Jim Crow voting laws — and they were not pleased. 

In a landmark Supreme Court decision written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court declared the law constitutional and left no room for ambiguity: 

We here hold that the portions of the Voting Rights Act properly before us are a valid means for carrying out the commands of the Fifteeenth Amendment. Hopefully, millions of non-white Americans will now be able to participate for the first time on an equal basis in the government under which they live. We may finally look forward to the day when truly "[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

It was an 8-1 decision. Only Justice Hugo Black, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and a staunch textualist, dissented.

South Carolina’s challenge was mostly aimed at Section 5, which required areas with histories of discrimination to get their election changes approved by the federal government — and which was invalidated by the Roberts Court in 2013. Notably, South Carolina did not seek to challenge Section 2 and its nationwide application.

Sixty years later, a 6-3 conservative majority did what not even South Carolina initially sought to do — it gutted Section 2 of the VRA. As difficult as it is to believe, as of Wednesday’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, Section 2 has been rendered powerless. 

To soft-peddle the decision, many in legacy media have reported that Section 2 has been “limited” or “weakened.” Now is not the time to abide by imprecision to please both sides. The conservative majority overturned decades of settled precedent and silenced the voices of minority voters along the way. 

Many of us pre-mourned the Voting Rights Act for much of this year, but that doesn’t change the heartache and sadness we are feeling. It doesn’t change the reality we must contend with. The Voting Rights Act is officially dead, and the citizens of the United States are still left waiting for the day when their right to vote shall not be denied or abridged.

What worried me this week

This was a week filled with worries. 

It would be easy to point to Tuesday’s indictment of James Comey for posting on Instagram a picture of seashells organized to read “86 47.” Even for an administration willing to indict its political opponents for nothing, this stood out.

In a normal week, Wednesday’s decision by the Florida legislature to enact Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new congressional map would be the banner headline. After all, they created four additional Republican seats in the face of a state constitutional provision banning partisan gerrymandering.

But the most worrisome action of the week was the Louisiana governor’s declaration of a state of emergency to suspend congressional primary elections. This is not just a redistricting power grab; it is an authoritarian dry run for next November.

If you think this ends in Louisiana or with redistricting, think again. Ballots have been cast. An election is underway. And a governor has stopped the democratic process in its tracks. 

This is not normal, and if it were happening in any other country, our legacy media would denounce it. Instead, they are pretending it’s business as usual.

Lawsuits have already been filed to protect this election. I am worried, but we will fight this.  

What I’m watching in the courts

What gave me hope this week

But the good news is that Democrats are fighting back. If Republicans can redraw districts to favor their party, so can they. 

Currently, independent commissions draw the congressional maps in several Democratic states. But in a post-Callais America, Democratic leaders are realizing it’s time for a change. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is working with the legislature to change the state’s redistricting laws, and Democrats in Colorado are in favor of returning map-drawing powers to the legislature. 

This is the first step in the right direction. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: We cannot bring norms to a Trump fight. We risk losing our democracy if we do. 

So while I am encouraged by our leaders stepping up to the plate, what has truly given me hope is you. During this long and hard week, I received countless messages from Democracy Docket subscribers encouraging me to keep fighting. You reminded me that I am not alone in this fight and all of us, together, are doing our part to restore and defend free and fair elections. 

The clock may have been set back, but that doesn’t mean it has stopped. It will spring forward once again.