This week at Democracy Docket: A catastrophic court ruling sets off a scramble to destroy Black political power

It’s no exaggeration to say this was among the worst weeks for voting rights in our history. 

It wasn’t only that the U.S. Supreme Court eviscerated the most important and effective law protecting access to the ballot ever passed by Congress — though that was bad enough. It was also that, in the wake of the court’s disastrous and cynical ruling, we saw a terrifying stampede among southern states to leverage the decision to finally try to wipe out Black political power.

At Democracy Docket, we’ve felt the same sense of shock and anger this week as many of our readers. But we’ve also understood that, now more than ever, it’s our job to spell out exactly what’s happening — and to help point a path forward.

In fact, in the four days since Callais v. Louisiana came down, we’ve written 22 different stories on the ruling, and the redistricting and voting free-for-all it’s set off.

First, we covered the decision itself from every angle: 

• Jim Saksa brought you the news, and what it meant, within minutes. 

• Yunior Rivas reported on the outraged responses from Democrats and voting rights advocates.

• Jacob Knutson covered the immediate calls to reform the Supreme Court.

• Matthew Kupfer and Adeline Tolle used original Democracy Docket research to explain how Callais will likely affect as many as 28 ongoing voting rights cases — and not to the benefit of the pro-voting side.

•Yunior followed up by showing how, in some of those cases, it’s already having an impact.

• Jacob told you how Democrats are fighting back, by building support for their own new redistricting efforts, as well as for pro-voting laws.

• Yunior revealed, in two separate stories, how the Department of Justice is already mobilizing to use Callais to target majority-minority districts across the country. 

• Jacob explained how the ruling could also doom important state-level minority voting protections in major blue states like California and New York.

• And finally, Jim took a close look at the opinion and broke down just how useless it rendered the Voting Rights Act for fighting racial bias in voting — belying Justice Samuel Alito’s claim that he wasn’t gutting the landmark law, just updating it. 

Then there was the fallout, as GOP-led states across the South scrambled to redraw their congressional maps so as to eliminate as many majority-Black districts as possible.

Florida: Jen Rice was monitoring the Sunshine State as lawmakers rammed through a gerrymander that could give the GOP four extra seats in Congress — a process begun before Callais came down, but given added momentum by the ruling.

Louisiana: Jen also explained how, in a stunningly anti-democratic move, GOP officials seized on Callais to halt a congressional primary in which mail ballots had already been sent out — including nullifying votes already cast — so the state can redraw its map this week to eliminate one or more majority-Black seats. And Yunior covered the lawsuit that was quickly filed challenging the scheme.

Alabama: Jen and Yunior teamed up again to report on how the Yellowhammer State has already called a special session to change the timing of its upcoming primaries. That would allow it to revert to the gerrymandered map it’s been trying for years to use, despite courts ruling it racially discriminatory.

Tennesse: After pressure from President Donald Trump, Yunior reported, Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Friday announced a special session to redraw the state’s map, which will eliminate its one remaining Black-majority seat, based in Memphis.

South Carolina: The Palmetto State, too, has only one majority-Black seat, held by the veteran Democratic lawmaker Rep. James Clyburn. Now, no surprise, GOP lawmakers and the state party are urging the governor to call a special session to scrap it, reported Brentin Mock.

Virginia: It seems like years ago. But on Monday we brought you minute-by-minute coverage of oral arguments before the state’s Supreme Court, which will soon decide whether to let a Democratic-backed redistricting plan — crucially, approved by voters last month — go into effect.

That’s shaping up to be a huge ruling. If it’s greenlighted by the court, the new map could let Democrats counter at least a few of the GOP gerrymanders spurred by Callais. If it’s blocked, this fall’s election will be fought out on an even more unbalanced playing field.