Some prominent Republicans started calling for Georgia lawmakers to redraw the state’s political maps hours after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that dilutes a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Democrats have roundly condemned the decision, which they say risks fair representation for minority voters across the country, and urged Georgia residents to make their voices heard at the polls during this year’s midterm elections.
Until now, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has limited states from using maps that dilute the voting power of minority citizens. Georgia lawmakers were ordered to redraw the state’s maps during a special session in 2023 after a federal judge ruled that the state’s congressional and legislative boundary lines diluted the voting strength of Black Georgians.
But in the precedent set Wednesday by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, plaintiffs must prove there was “intentional racial discrimination” in order for gerrymandered districts to be overturned.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat who is a key voice on voting rights, said the court’s decision represents a “profound defeat for American democracy.”