Former Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 13) for giving states the green light to eliminate Black-majority districts nationwide, and urged progressives to consider radical reforms in opposition.
Harris discussed the ruling in a phone call with the progressive nonprofit Emerge, critiquing the Supreme Court’s decision to effectively gut the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on partisan grounds.
“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. “What they are doing is intentionally about trying to suppress the voice of the people.”
While the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed to prohibit voting practices that could result in Americans being denied the right to vote based on their race, the justices argued that race-based redistricting did not comply with Section 2 of the act.
“When [Section 2] of the Act is properly interpreted, it imposes liability only when circumstances give rise to a strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in an opinion for the majority. “Properly understood, [Section 2] thus does not intrude on States’ prerogative to draw districts based on nonracial factors, including to achieve partisan advantage.”
This has opened the door for several Republican-led states, such as Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee, to propose new congressional maps that erase majority-Black districts on the basis of partisan gerrymandering and grant the party additional seats in the November midterms.
Harris, along with former President Barack Obama, previously denounced the ruling on social media in April.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities - so long as they do it under the guise of 'partisanship' rather than explicit 'racial bias,” Obama wrote in a statement posted to X.
Harries echoed Obama’s dissent in her own post, stating the Voting Rights Act was “one of the last remaining federal protections for Black and brown voters,” and called on Americans to help “restore power to the people.”
In her call with Emerge, Harris added that those opposing the ruling and its consequences must do more than protest; they must also consider “bold” reforms to radically shift the dynamics of government.
“Let’s invite ideas, for example, that are about Supreme Court reform, including the notion of expanding the court,” Harris said. “Let’s invite a discussion about how do we push for statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C.; how are we thinking about the Electoral College.”
She added that Republicans are aware “they are in a losing position around the midterms” and will “cheat based on an agenda and a playbook that has been a long time in the making.” In that vein, she calls on Americans to “fight fire with fire” and not lose hope.
“This is a fight worth having. When you know what you know, what you stand for, you know what to fight for,” she said. “When you feel powerless, you are powerless. When you feel powerful, you are powerful. We are powerful. And yes, the fight just got more difficult…[but] we are up for a good fight because we know what’s at stake, and we know it’s worth it.”
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