‘Lines are going to change’: Trump DOJ confirms it will target minority voters nationwide after Supreme Court ruling

The Trump administration confirmed Friday it will target Black and Latino-majority voting districts across the country — using the Supreme Court’s recent decision gutting the Voting Rights Act as a legal weapon.

In a new interview, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon made clear the Justice Department plans to go after “majority-minority” districts — where Black and Latino voters are a majority of the population and have historically been able to elect candidates of their choice.

“In any state that has this type of protected Section 2 majority-minority district, those lines are going to change in coming years. So this is a sea change,” Dhillon said. “It’s going to really impact almost all of the southern states. Pennsylvania has a Section 2 district as well.”

For decades, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act required states to draw maps that give minority voters a fair and meaningful opportunity to impact elections. The Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday effectively ended that protection — and the Trump DOJ is now signaling it intends to use that ruling to dismantle those districts ruthlessly.

“This is actually going to impact all voters in the United States,” Dhillon said. “This should all shake out by the time of the 2028, 2030 election. You’re going to see a stronger position for competitive districts throughout these states.”

The comments come one day after Dhillon publicly pledged the department was ready to act on the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“Senator — we are ON IT!” she wrote in response to Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), who urged the department to review voting maps nationwide and target districts “improperly drawn using race.” 

The statements make clear the Trump administration is not simply responding to the Supreme Court’s ruling — it is preparing to use it to go on offense, challenging districts created to protect minority voting power, including in Democratic-led states.

Voting rights advocates have warned the Supreme Court’s ruling dismantled one of the last remaining safeguards against racial discrimination in elections, allowing states to redraw maps that weaken the political power of Black and Latino communities.

And the potential impact with DOJ spearheading enforcement is sweeping. 

Majority-minority districts — long a cornerstone of Voting Rights Act enforcement — could now be targeted nationwide as DOJ reinterprets the law to challenge them rather than defend them.

The shift marks a fundamental reversal of the federal government’s role. DOJ — once responsible for enforcing the Voting Rights Act to protect minority voters — is now preparing to use the law’s weakening to attack them.