BREAKING — Yesterday MORNING: The U.S. Supreme Court issued Louisiana v. Callais today, April 29, 2026.
In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Court struck down Louisiana's two majority-Black congressional districts and gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Alito wrote the majority. Justice Kagan's dissent called it 'the latest chapter in the majority's now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act.
' This is the most consequential civil rights ruling since Shelby County v. Holder (2013) — and some analysts say it is worse
WHAT HAPPENED: The Supreme Court, 6-3 along ideological lines, struck down Louisiana's congressional map that contained two majority-Black districts — despite a prior court order requiring them under the Voting Rights Act. The decision effectively guts Section 2 of the VRA.
WHAT SECTION 2 WAS: Section 2 of the VRA prohibits voting practices or procedures that result in the denial or abridgement of the right to vote on account of race. It was the last standing major protection after Shelby County v. Holder (2013) gutted Section 5, which had required pre-clearance of voting law changes in covered states.
ALITO'S MAJORITY: States cannot use race as a factor in districting even when trying to prevent disenfranchisement of minority voters. The VRA only protects against intentional discrimination — not disparate impact. Without this, a gerrymanderer only needs to say 'it was partisan, not racial' to defeat a VRA claim. Combined with Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), which held that partisan gerrymandering is a nonjusticiable political question, this ruling effectively declares all gerrymandering constitutional.
KAGAN'S DISSENT: Justice Kagan wrote, joined by Sotomayor and Jackson: 'Today's decision renders Section 2 all but a dead letter. In the States where that law continues to matter — the States still marked by residential segregation and racially polarized voting — minority voters can now be cracked out of the electoral process. The majority's now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act.
THE IMPACT — BY THE NUMBERS: According to an analysis by NPR and Democracy Docket: the Callais ruling could allow racial gerrymandering that leads to white candidates winning 15 seats currently held by Black members of Congress — a level of racial political rollback not seen since the end of Reconstruction. Fair Fight Action estimates the ruling could help Republicans flip as many as 19 majority-minority seats currently held by Democrats.
THE TIMELINE OF VRA DEMOLITION: 2013 (Shelby County): Gutted Section 5 preclearance. 2021 (Brnovich): Restricted lawsuits against racially discriminatory voting laws. 2019 (Rucho): Allowed partisan gerrymandering. 2026 (Callais): Gutted Section 2. The project is now complete.
JUSTICE KAGAN'S HISTORICAL FRAMING: She quoted the VRA as 'one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nation's history... born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers. Only [Congress has] the right to say it is no longer needed — not the members of this Court.
THE COURT'S LEGITIMACY CRISIS — DARK MONEY & ETHICS
PUBLIC TRUST (2026): Only 22% of Americans have 'a great deal' or 'quite a bit' of confidence in the Supreme Court— the lowest in polling history. 56% of Americans disapprove of the Court. This is not a right-left issue. It is a credibility collapse.
CLARENCE THOMAS — THE DOCUMENTED RECORD: ProPublica investigations found Justice Thomas accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in undisclosed luxury trips, private jet travel, and property transactions from Harlan Crow — a wealthy conservative donor who had business interests before the Court. Thomas's failure to disclose these gifts violated federal disclosure requirements. He was never sanctioned. He was never removed. He wrote concurrences in cases related to his benefactors' interests.
DARK MONEY IN JUDICIAL SELECTION: Conservative 'dark money' groups — led by the Federalist Society and aligned organizations — have funneled over $250 million to secure the appointment of judges aimed at overturning precedents on economic and social issues. This is not lobbying. This is purchasing the judiciary.
THE ETHICS CODE CHARADE: The Supreme Court adopted an ethics code in late 2023 under public pressure.
Critics describe it as 'designed to fail'
— it has no external enforcement mechanism, no independent investigative body, and justices self-report compliance.
Our panel: Kat Roblez
Senior Voting Rights Counsel & Litigation Manager — Forward Justice | Durham, North Carolina
Kat Roblez is a senior voting rights counsel and litigation manager at Forward Justice — a nonpartisan law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South. Forward Justice's mission is to challenge and change laws, policies, systems, and practices that harm the most vulnerable in our society and keep us from full liberation. Kat works at the intersection of civil rights litigation and political power, litigating and monitoring cases that directly affect the voting rights of communities of color across the Southern states.
Kenya Slaughter is a labor organizer with Step Up Louisiana — a grassroots organization that organizes with parents, workers, students, and community members to win equity and justice in schools and workplaces through voter education, advocacy, and direct action.
Kenya's story is the story of what organizing looks like when it comes from the ground up. In 2018, Kenya was a new mother in Alexandria, Louisiana, looking for a job close to home. She took a position at Dollar General — 'something attainable in the moment.' She became active in local politics, attending city council meetings and getting involved in a mayoral campaign. That led her to the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and then to Step Up Louisiana, where she gave testimony at the state capitol on behalf of retail workers in 2019. In spring 2020, with COVID-19 spreading rapidly and Dollar General refusing to provide its workers with adequate protective equipment, Kenya did not stay silent.
She spoke to a New York Times journalist — not knowing it would lead to a nationally published op-ed. Her piece, 'I Never Planned to Be a Front-Line Worker at Dollar General,' went modestly viral. She appeared on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. And shortly after, Dollar General sent masks and protective equipment to stores.
She said afterward: 'I did not need a union to get that done and it got done expeditiously. I had all types of people calling my phone trying to see what they can do.' Kenya's organizing philosophy captures something essential: 'Ultimately, I just want what's right.' That clarity of purpose — grounded in lived experience in Louisiana — makes her the essential voice in today's conversation about what the Callais decision means not for legal scholars, but for the people of the state it directly affects.
