On Oct. 15, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the landmark Louisiana v. Callais case, where the justices will decide the fate of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The case centers on Section 2, which empowers the federal government to protect voters from racial gerrymandering designed to dilute Black political power in how state congressional maps are drawn.
Section 2 is the last remaining part of the Voting Rights Act, after the conservative majority of justices eliminated Section 5 in 2013. Section 5 had mandated states with a history of racial discrimination targeting minority voters to get prior federal approval for changes to their voting laws.
Court observers say the six conservative justices’ response to oral arguments in the case indicate that the full court is likely to either eliminate or severely weaken Section 2 of the VRA, effectively dismantling the nation’s foundational civil rights law. Such a ruling would allow states and local governments to draw election district maps that systematically silence Black, Latino, Native and Asian American voters. The impact would be far reaching, likely giving the Republican party a long-term advantage by eliminating 12 to 19 majority-minority districts across the South, currently held by Democrats. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Steve Phillips, host of the Democracy in Color podcast and best-selling author who discusses the critical issues being decided in the Louisiana v. Callais case, which could signal the end of America’s multi-racial democracy.
STEVE PHILLIPS: We are in the middle of the rapid onslaught of the destruction of all of the apparatus and all of the institutions, organizations, programs, initiatives that came out of the civil rights movement designed to make this a more just equal and fair country.
And so ever since January of this year, there’s been this targeted, relentless assault and the Supreme Court has been complicit in all of this in terms of supporting the things that are coming out of this White House. And so you have to look at it in that context, and then you have to step back and see you’ve had these periods in history, and so the civil rights movement was a period, there had to be a mass movement to create these policies and now we have—we’ll see how long this period lasts, but there’s incredible backlash to it—but I think that’s incumbent upon us then to look at how do we prepare for a new period because the underlying issues and challenges and contradictions remain. The underlying inequality remains. And so what are we going to draft? And now what are we going to put in place that will advance that same cause, but with updated and new and hopefully even more effective measures and plans and proposals.
SCOTT HARRIS: Steve, in your view, does our nation have any mechanisms to restore the Voting Rights Act if the Supreme Court eliminates all of its protections. There’s discussion about congressional legislation expanding, the U.S. Supreme Court or imposing term limits on the Supreme Court justices there. Do you have any hope of any short-term solution to effectively fight back if the Supreme Court does as expected—just really deep sixes the entire Voting Rights Act.
And then the other issue, which I think is also the short-term piece, which I don’t think that enough progressive and Democrats even embrace. There needs to be a crusade for democracy. You need to try to get every possible person to vote, and there’s far too little attention investment and focus on that. Whereas too much energy spent trying to figure out a magical rhetorical incantation that will win over some Trump voters. We really need to be putting money in the hands of local leaders and groups and people to get everybody out to vote.
I think a massive mobilization of people to participate in the electoral process can in the short term, overcome or counterbalance some of the gerrymandering that’s likely to come. And then the long term, this needs to be entrenched. Voting does still take place and is structured at the local level, so cities and counties can do a lot to make sure as many people as possible vote.
And so that’s going to be a critical component, I think, of how we start to lay the groundwork and the foundation for building a new era. But the country is now 41 percent people of color, and there is still a shown, largely also by the No Kings March, a significant and meaningful progressive minority of whites who want this to be a multiracial democracy. All of my analysis and understanding that that remains the majority of people within this country. And so that’s what gives me hope.
For more information, visit Steve Phillips’ podcast at democracyincolor.com/podcast.
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