The US Supreme Court dropped what voting rights advocates are calling a nuclear bomb on American democracy back in April, and the fallout is still radioactive. In Louisiana v Callais, the court ruled that states cannot consider race when redrawing congressional districts - a decision that has sent southern states into a redistricting frenzy that would make your head spin.
What actually happened
The 1965 Voting Rights Act was, to put it mildly, a big deal. It was passed after decades of brutal suppression of Black voters across the American South, and it was specifically designed to prevent exactly the kind of gerrymandering that critics say is now happening at warp speed. Since the April ruling, states including Tennessee and Alabama have reportedly rushed to redraw their maps, erasing majority-Black congressional districts in the process - with midterm elections already looming on the horizon.
The practical chaos this creates for election administration alone is, per reporting from The Guardian, considerable.
Enter Stacey Abrams
Voting rights activist and former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams did not mince words when she spoke with journalist Kai Wright on the Stateside with Kai and Carter podcast. According to The Guardian's coverage of the episode, Abrams described the gutting of the Voting Rights Act as, and we quote directly here, "evil."
Not "concerning." Not "troubling." Evil. Full stop.
Abrams, who has spent years fighting voter suppression in Georgia and became a nationally recognized figure after the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race, has long argued that attacks on voting rights disproportionately silence Black and minority communities - and that the consequences ripple far beyond any single election cycle.
But wait - she's not giving up?
Here is the part that might genuinely surprise you: despite characterizing the Supreme Court's decision in some pretty apocalyptic terms, Abrams reportedly told Wright that she still believes voting and civic participation remain the most viable path forward. That is either deeply inspiring or the most committed long game in American political history, depending on your mileage.
The midterm elections are now shaping up to be contested on maps that critics say were specifically drawn to dilute minority voting power - a situation that legal challenges will almost certainly follow, though the Supreme Court's current composition leaves many advocates skeptical about relief from that direction.
The full conversation between Kai Wright and Stacey Abrams is available via The Guardian's Stateside with Kai and Carter podcast.
