from Black Enterprise
May 11, 2026
The Supreme Court has weakened the integrity of the Voting Rights Act
Written by Dr. Russ Wigginton
The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais effectively renders Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) a “dead letter” by requiring proof of intentional racial discrimination. This ruling reflects erosion in Shelby County in 2013 and puts up to 15 Black-held House seats at risk. Dr. Russ Wigginton argues that the response must be, as in 1966, a massive civic mobilization.
On April 29, the United States Supreme Court did what it had sought to do for over a decade. It weakened the integrity of the Voting Rights Act, without saying so technically.
How does Louisiana v. Callais change the Voting Rights Act?
In a 6-3 decision by Justice Samuel Alito in Louisiana v. Callais, the court effectively declared Section 2 of the VRA dead and required proof of intentional racial discrimination, a standard that Congress never signed into law and is nearly impossible for plaintiffs to meet. Justice Kagan’s dissent had no effect: “Today’s decision makes Section 2 all but dead. In states still characterized by residential segregation and racially polarized voting, minority voters can now be excluded from the electoral process.”
The ruling could set off a Republican fight over redistricting of majority-minority congressional districts, particularly in the South, which would cost many seats held by and representing blacks. An analysis found that the gerrymandering triggered by Wednesday’s decision could result in white candidates winning 15 House seats currently held by black members of Congress, a level of racial retaliation not seen since the end of Reconstruction.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others must have known this day was coming. Not this specific date, but this specific resistance.
The historical precedent: The “Coalition of Conscience” of 1966
In 1965, King cited the Selma to Montgomery march not as symbolism but as strategy. He understood that the ballot was the non-negotiable instrument of self-determination, the only instrument that could transform moral authority into legislative power. The Voting Rights Act signed in August was the direct result of the bloodshed at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. King didn’t stop there. In 1966, he built a so-called “Coalition of Conscience,” registering voters throughout the South, training community organizers and insisting that the next chapter of the movement must be won in the district and not just in the pulpit.
It worked. In the 1966 midterm elections, blacks in the South enjoyed record turnout, changing the partisan landscape in ways that seemed unimaginable just two years earlier. Black voters in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi translated their newly protected voting rights into city council seats, judgeships, and congressional representation. The law not only protected a right, it restructured power.
What today’s court has done is reopen the wound that these voters closed 60 years ago.
The erosion of the VRA (2013–2026)
The erosion did not start today. It began in 2013 when Shelby County v. Holder struck down the VRA’s preapproval provisions. After declining for decades after the VRA was enacted, the racial turnout gap began to grow again, particularly in counties that previously had preclearance. Today’s Callais decision is not an outlier. It’s the climax.
But history also tells us what comes next.
Action Strategy: Overorganize the Gerrymander
When the law recedes, the people must move forward. The answer to a court that lets voters decide democracy is a move that transcends gerrymanders. Voter registration campaigns. Civic education in every school, church and hair salon. Ranked Advocacy. Voter turnout actions that make suppression by sheer numbers irrelevant. The 1966 model still works, not because it’s nostalgic, but because it’s true: When eligible voters of every race, origin and zip code show up, the map changes.
Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund said the decision would allow states to “discriminate with impunity.” She’s right. But impunity does not mean immunity from organized, relentless citizen participation.
Dr. King asked us, “Where do we go from here?” The answer, 60 years later, is the same: to the ballot boxes, to the electoral districts, to the people. The ballot remains the battleground. And we haven’t lost the war yet.
Courtesy of the National Civil Rights Museum
Dr. Russ Wigginton serves as president of the National Civil Rights Museum. He assumed this role in August 2021 and brings extensive experience in education, fundraising, operations and community engagement. Prior to taking on this role, Russ served as Chief Postsecondary Impact Officer for Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), where he led the organization’s work on college access, retention and completion.