The Voting Rights Act of 1965, along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, was the significant achievement of the modern civil rights movement. After decades of disenfranchisement, President Lydon Johnson signed a sweeping piece of federal legislation that provided suffrage rights to African Americans in many communities for the first time in history. As a result of the Voting Rights Act, Black voter registration rates increased significantly and several Black elected officials won offices.
On April 29, 2026, in a decision that fell along ideological lines, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a Louisiana congressional district because it was a “racial gerrymander”. The six conservative justices believed that the district relied too heavily on race and therefore violated section two of the Voting Rights Act. This ruling, in essence, both allows and encourages state legislatures to create congressional maps that provide preference to white voters, white candidates and, more specifically, to white Republican voters and candidates.
Shortly after the ruling was announced, the Florida State Senate approved a congressional map that awards four additional congressional seats to Republican candidates. This is only one of the consequences of this unfair and reckless decision. Both in the past and present, there have been purposeful attempts to dilute the Black vote, purge the names of Black voters from rolls, and prevent the elections of Black candidates.
Although this decision is disappointing, all is not lost. Throughout history, African Americans have had to fight to gain rights and to keep them. This is yet another battle that we have to fight. But, this is a battle that we must win. Our ancestors did not fight for us to achieve certain rights for us to sit back and watch as they are stripped away from us. It is imperative for us to VOTE, support our preferred candidates, educate communities about the importance of political participation, and demand that our congressional representatives support passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The National Conference of Black Political Scientists is planning a number of activities to discuss the implications of the Callais ruling, beginning with a June 25th discussion “The Recent Attacks About the Voting Rights Act: What Can Communities Do to Defend Black Representation.”
