Democracy, We Hardly Knew Ye

The [2026 U.S. Supreme Court] case that felled the Voting Rights Act was Louisiana v. Callais…

The day after the Callais ruling, Gov. Jeff Landry took the unprecedented action of suspending the state’s U.S. House primary — in which tens of thousands of voters had already cast ballots — so legislators could redraw the election maps. Though one in three Louisiana residents is Black, Republicans intend to jettison at least one of two Black-majority districts…

Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida quickly moved ahead with their own redistricting plans. And the governor of Mississippi — which has just a single Black U.S. representative despite having the nation’s highest percentage of Black residents, at 38 percent — announced his intent to do the same…

“They are cementing absolute minority control because they do not represent a majority of this country. And when they — if they — get away with the heist, we will be locked out of multiracial democracy for at least a generation,” [ said Janai Nelson, who as president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund argued the Callais case before the Supreme Court].

(Nikole Hannah Jones, “The Civil Rights Era Is Collapsing Before Our Eyes,” New York Times, 5-22-26)

About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.

View all posts by JMN →