Warnock Says Supreme Court Weakened 1965 Voting Rights Act, Fueling New District Maps
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 6
Warnock Says Supreme Court Weakened 1965 Voting Rights Act, Fueling New District Maps
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 6
Summary
Raphael Warnock said the Supreme Court has done “violence” to democracy by weakening voting-rights protections, casting the court’s recent rulings as a direct assault on ordinary Americans’ political voice.
The Georgia senator tied that charge to the court’s latest blow to the Voting Rights Act and the ensuing rush to redraw districts through partisan gerrymandering.
Warnock argued the rollback is not abstract: he cited his own Georgia runoff, when he sued to restore early weekend voting, saying about 70,000 people cast ballots on Saturday and he won by roughly 100,000 votes.
He framed the fight through family history from the Jim Crow South, saying the United States has only been a real democracy since 1965 and that recent decisions threaten those gains.
With the Voting Rights Act's power diminished, what new paths exist to secure fair electoral representation?
After Callais: Supreme Court’s 2026 Ruling Reshapes Voting Rights Act, Weakens Protections for Minority Voters
Overview
On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, immediately striking down a Louisiana congressional map that had created a second majority-Black district. The lawsuit, brought by non-African American voters, argued the map was unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. The Court upheld a previous federal court decision barring the map’s use and delivered another significant blow to the Voting Rights Act. This ruling is widely seen as further weakening protections for minority voters, making it much harder to challenge voting maps that dilute minority representation.