GREENSBORO, N.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court attempted to push this country backward, toward rules that echo the Jim Crow South, an era when millions of Black people were systematically denied their right to vote.
Ruling on Callais v. Louisiana, the Court gutted one of the most important protections for free and fair elections in modern American history: Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
For decades, Section 2 has been a guardrail. It stopped politicians from drawing maps that diluted Black voting power through tactics like cracking and packing, which split Black communities across districts or squeezed us into districts to weaken our broader electoral influence. It ensured that racial discrimination in voting didn’t have to be explicit to be illegal, only consequential.
Now, that protection is being stripped away.
This case began in Louisiana in 2024, after Black voters successfully sued for fair representation, winning a map with two majority-Black congressional districts out of six, instead of just one. As a result, plaintiffs challenged the new map, claiming it was discriminatory. The Supreme Court took that argument and used it to fundamentally reshape how voting rights are protected in this country.
The ruling sets a dangerous standard: Racial gerrymandering must now be intentionally discriminatory to be illegal, not simply produce discriminatory outcomes.
Black communities know far too well that discrimination in America has never needed to announce itself to be effective.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was designed to enforce the promises of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments of U.S. Constitution — that Black and Brown voters have equal access not only to the ballot but also political power.
The consequences will not be abstract. Experts warn this ruling could eliminate nearly half of Black-majority districts across the South and potentially cost up to 30% of seats held by the Congressional Black Caucus.
That means fewer Black representatives. Fewer advocates for policies that impact our communities. Fewer people in power who understand the lived realities of the people they serve.
This ruling impacts more than one district in Louisiana. National, state and local elections all over the country — from school boards to county commissions and state legislatures will be affected. Every level of government where decisions are made about our schools, our health care, our infrastructure and our futures.
And it will hit hardest in the South, the region of our home state, North Carolina.
Here, the state legislature already holds overwhelming power over redistricting. The governor cannot veto maps for redistricting or local bills in many cases. That means there are now even fewer checks at the federal level on lawmakers who want to redraw districts for political gain.
This decision is about more than simply redrawing maps; it is about whether Black communities can elect leaders who represent them.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The Voting Rights Act is not just a victory for Black Americans, it enriches the lives of all Americans.” And President Lyndon B. Johnson made it plain: Denying people the right to choose their leaders is to deny democracy itself.
That is exactly what is at stake now, when politicians can redraw maps to choose their voters, rather than voters choosing their leaders — democracy is under attack.
North Carolina lawmakers have the power to act where the Supreme Court has weakened our rights. Real protection will require more than court decisions. It will take our communities organizing and mobilizing across the state. Make a plan to vote early this year between Oct. 15-30 in the upcoming general election and support leaders who are willing to protect our rights when the court will not.
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Mikayla Massey is the democracy and economy program manager for North Carolina Black Alliance.
