Former Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the Supreme Court on Wednesday for allowing states to eliminate Black-majority districts and claiming their only motivation was partisanship.
“What they have done with this decision, by saying that the politics of redistricting is okay, is they are backdooring racism through politics,” Harris said on a call with the progressive nonprofit Emerge. “What they are doing is intentionally about trying to suppress the voice of the people.”
Efforts to eliminate Black-majority congressional seats have swept through the South following the court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais. That ruling, backed by all six Republican-appointed justices, gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by stating that partisan considerations trumped efforts that result in racial discrimination. The only way the act could still be successfully deployed in court is if plaintiffs can prove intentional discrimination, according to the decision.
In response, the Republican government in Tennessee eliminated the state’s lone Black majority district centered on Memphis by splitting the city into three new solid GOP districts. Louisiana Republicans also rammed through a new map eliminating one of two Black-majority districts after canceling a primary election that was already underway. Similar efforts are moving forward in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
