Election Redistricting Ruling Dissolves Voter Protections, Could Cement One-Party Control

For Immediate Release: April 29, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which helped to end Jim Crow and expand political opportunity for racial minorities especially Black voters, forbids only intentional racial discrimination and does not cover politically motivated redistricting efforts that have the effect of diluting the voting power of minority populations. This ruling further erodes protections for voters of color across the country, who will often be unable to present the smoking-gun evidence of intentional race discrimination that the Court’s opinion appears to demand.

Public Citizen Co-Presidents Robert Weissman and Lisa Gilbert issued the following statement:

“The Supreme Court just issued a license for states to strip away the rights of voters of color. The Voting Rights Act recognized that guaranteeing the basic right to vote of people of color in the United States required affirmative federal protections. Through a steady series of decisions based on the demonstrably false premise that racial discrimination in the U.S. electoral system is nothing more than a historic memory, the Supreme Court has gashed at the Voting Rights Act, leaving it little more than an empty shell. The direct result is the evisceration of the rights and freedoms of voters of color.

“This ruling strips voting power away from already disenfranchised communities. It paves the way for barely disguised racial gerrymanders that will disempower Black and brown voters and dramatically shift power to favor Republicans.”