{"id":9829,"date":"2026-05-07T09:08:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:08:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:08:38","slug":"killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Killing our vote\u2019: GOP states rush to break up Black districts after US Supreme Court case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tennessee
\n

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson, a Memphis Democrat, speaks to a crowd of protesters on May 5, 2026, the first day of a special legislative session called by Republican Gov. Bill Lee to redraw Tennessee\u2019s congressional districts. (Photo by Cassandra Stephenson\/Tennessee Lookout)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The day after the U.S. Supreme Court crippled the federal Voting Rights Act, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson addressed a virtual gathering for the group\u2019s members and supporters where he ranked the landmark decision alongside the court\u2019s most infamous cases.<\/p>\n

Dred Scott excluded Black people from American citizenship ahead of the Civil War. Plessy blessed policies of racial segregation in 1896. And now there was Callais.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The opinion will \u201cprobably go down in the history book as one of three of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the history of this nation,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s 6-3 ruling in\u00a0Louisiana vs. Callais<\/a> on April 29 cleared states to split apart, for political gain, congressional districts where a majority of residents belong to minority groups. The court\u2019s conservative majority said Louisiana lawmakers acted unconstitutionally when they intentionally created the state\u2019s second majority-Black district, which the justices found unnecessary.<\/p>\n

A week after its release, the decision is roiling politics across the South as states move at a rapid pace to recast the political landscape that has taken progressives by surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Republicans, triumphant over their victory at the court, are rushing fresh gerrymanders through Southern statehouses in time for the November midterm elections in an effort to strengthen their party\u2019s control over the region\u2019s U.S. House delegations. They\u2019re acting at lightning speed, over loud protests, and have nullified votes by suspending ongoing elections.<\/p>\n

Democrats, especially Black residents, are furious with both the court and GOP politicians, who they believe are poised to wipe away decades of Black political progress in the region. The new maps that seek to oust Black members of Congress and prevent the election of Democrats in the future recall a Jim Crow past of literacy tests and poll taxes, they say.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe refuse to let you kill us by killing our vote,\u201d Eliza Jane Franklin, a resident of rural Barbour County, Alabama, told a\u00a0state House hearing<\/a> Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Eliza<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Eliza Jane Franklin of Barbour County, Alabama, holds up a copy of \u201cWitness to Injustice,\u201d a book by David Frost Jr. about racial violence and the Civil Rights Movement in Eufala, Alabama, while speaking to the state House Ways and Means General Fund Committee on May 5, 2026. (Photo by Brian Lyman\/Alabama Reflector)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Decision kicked off legislative efforts<\/h4>\n

The Alabama Legislature is\u00a0moving to authorize<\/a> a special primary election using a congressional map currently blocked in federal court, if a district court or, ultimately, the Supreme Court allows the state to move forward. At least one of the state\u2019s two Black members of the U.S. House would be vulnerable.<\/p>\n

In Louisiana, the governor\u00a0has suspended<\/a> the state\u2019s primary elections for the U.S. House, setting aside some 42,000 votes that were already cast. Republican lawmakers will begin advancing a new gerrymander in a matter of days, aiming to force out at least one of the state\u2019s two Black House members.<\/p>\n

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis\u00a0signed a new map<\/a> into law Monday that aims to hand his party up to four additional U.S. House seats. State lawmakers approved the map hours after the Supreme Court\u2019s decision. The map has already drawn multiple legal challenges.<\/p>\n

The South Carolina Legislature is weighing\u00a0whether to redraw maps<\/a>. And Tennessee lawmakers\u00a0want to gerrymander<\/a> a Memphis district currently held by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a white Democrat who represents the state\u2019s only majority-Black district.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind,\u201d Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, said in a statement Thursday unveiling a plan to divide the Memphis area among three congressional seats.<\/p>\n

\n
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\"House<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton. (Photo by John Partipilo\/Tennessee Lookout)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More states, in the South and elsewhere, are expected to pursue new maps over the next two years. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp\u00a0ruled out<\/a> a special session this year, for example, but supports redistricting before the 2028 election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current moment represents an extraordinary time in America, said Rebekah Caruthers, president and CEO of Fair Elections Center, a nonpartisan voting rights group. But she also called it a reversion \u201cback to America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many thought the presence of Black, Hispanic and Asian American elected officials somehow meant racial discrimination no longer existed, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd unfortunately, that is a misread of American history,\u201d Caruthers said. \u201cAnd perhaps it is a retelling of American history for those who want to gloss over America\u2019s very sordid past, especially when it comes to voting rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Midterms impact<\/h4>\n

The scramble by a handful of Southern states to redraw districts comes as Republicans grasp for any scintilla of advantage ahead of the midterm elections in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A U.S. House under Democratic control would spell the end of much of President Donald Trump\u2019s legislative agenda, produce a wave of investigations into his administration and potentially lead to a vote to impeach him in the House, though the Senate would almost certainly acquit him.<\/p>\n

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\"CohenU.S.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat who represents Tennessee\u2019s only majority-Black district, speaks to a crowd before a special legislative session that began May 5, 2026. (Photo by John Partipilo\/Tennessee Lookout)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is all about Donald Trump wanting to avoid hard questions and oversight hearings about his actions,\u201d Cohen said at a news conference in Memphis.<\/p>\n

Seth McKee, a political science professor at Oklahoma State University who has studied Southern politics, said Republicans are attempting to \u201cstaunch the bleeding\u201d ahead of unfavorable midterm elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe desperation of this Republican Party, it\u2019s off the charts,\u201d McKee said.<\/p>\n

Redistricting push supercharged<\/h4>\n

Prior to Callais, Trump had already urged Republicans to redraw congressional maps for partisan advantage \u2014 a process that typically occurs once a decade after the census.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas enacted more GOP-friendly maps, while Democrats struck back in California and Virginia. In Utah, Republicans want to block a court-ordered map that\u2019s more favorable to Democrats.<\/p>\n

Republican primary voters have given their approval to that approach. On Tuesday, five Trump-endorsed state legislative candidates in Indiana\u00a0defeated<\/a> GOP incumbents who had defied the president to block a gerrymander in the state last year.<\/p>\n

But until now the Voting Rights Act limited how far that gerrymandering push could extend.<\/p>\n

For decades, Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act helped protect majority-minority districts from gerrymandering and ensured voters could elect Black candidates to Congress in Southern states following the end of state laws that blocked Black citizens from voting. The Callais opinion guts Section 2 by curtailing the consideration of race when drawing legislative maps.<\/p>\n

Republicans have praised the decision and many have been clear that they believe the opinion opens up a path to securing additional GOP seats. Trump has endorsed disregarding primary elections that have already been held so that states can pass new maps \u2014 which he predicts can net Republicans an additional 20 seats this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot allow there to be an Election that is conducted unconstitutionally simply for the \u2018convenience\u2019 of State Legislatures,\u201d Trump\u00a0wrote<\/a> on Truth Social. \u201cIf they have to vote twice, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calls for GOP seats<\/h4>\n

Over the past week, some Republicans have cast majority-minority districts previously protected by the Voting Rights Act as racist because they were drawn with attention paid to the racial makeup of the map. U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican,\u00a0wrote on X\u00a0<\/a>that there are \u201cno more excuses for keeping racist maps,\u201d for example, and called for their immediate removal.<\/p>\n

Other GOP leaders have centered their case for quick action on political power. Like Trump, they have explicitly invoked control of the U.S. House as a reason to gerrymander. While Republicans have the House, their margin of control is razor thin: 217 to 212, with one independent and five vacancies. Even a modest Democratic wave in November will likely sweep away GOP control.<\/p>\n

Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger Jr. and House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter said in a joint statement that the state\u2019s lawmakers have a responsibility to offer Alabama a \u201cfighting chance\u201d to elect seven Republican U.S. representatives. Two of the state\u2019s seven districts are held by Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cControl of the U.S. House of Representatives could come down to just a handful of seats, and when the dust settles, the people of Alabama will know that their Legislature stood firm, acted decisively, and did everything within its power to fight for fair representation,\u201d Gudger and Ledbetter said.<\/p>\n

Alabama Republicans want to use a map passed by lawmakers in 2023 that federal courts blocked from taking effect. Alabama\u2019s current map was drawn by a court-appointed special master.<\/p>\n

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, asked a federal district court Tuesday for an order that would let the state move forward with the gerrymander.<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Carsie<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Carsie Evans of Anniston, Alabama, holds a sign outside the Alabama Statehouse on May 4, 2026, the day the Alabama legislature began a special session that could result in changes to primary elections and congressional legislative district lines. (Photo by Brian Lyman\/Alabama Reflector)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Louisiana, Republicans obtained special permission from the Supreme Court to quickly move forward on a new gerrymander after the justices struck down its current map in the Callais decision.<\/p>\n

Absentee voting was already underway in Louisiana before Republican Gov. Jeff Landry suspended congressional primary elections set for May 16. Votes already cast for U.S. House candidates won\u2019t count, Republican Secretary of State Nancy Landry, no relation, has said.<\/p>\n

Louisiana state lawmakers are set to begin work on a new map this month that will likely break apart a New Orleans district held by U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, a Black Democrat who has fought with the governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court\u2019s decision in these cases has spawned chaos in the State of Louisiana,\u201d Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, one of the Supreme Court\u2019s three liberal justices, wrote in a dissent of\u00a0the decision<\/a> to quickly finalize Callais.<\/p>\n

Court challenges<\/h4>\n

Still, Democrats and other opponents of the gerrymandering effort across the South are turning to the courts. Lawsuits have also been filed challenging the suspension of Louisiana\u2019s congressional primaries and Florida\u2019s new map also faces court challenges.<\/p>\n

A petition filed in Louisiana state court by Elias Law Group, a major Democrat-aligned voting rights litigation firm, alleges the governor\u2019s decision to halt the congressional primary is unlawful and unprecedented. Only the state legislature has the power to set the state\u2019s election schedule,\u00a0the petition argues<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernors do not get to cancel elections by executive fiat, least of all elections that are already underway, with ballots in voters\u2019 hands and votes already cast,\u201d Lali Madduri, a partner at Elias Law Group, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how the legal challenges play out, Democrats say the Callais decision and the ongoing fallout from the decision underscore the need for massive voter turnout in the November election. A large Democratic turnout that results in a significant Democratic majority in the U.S. House would serve as a rebuke to Trump\u2019s gerrymandering campaign, they say.<\/p>\n

Blue state gerrymanders<\/h4>\n

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, South Carolina\u2019s sole congressional Democrat, said during the NAACP\u00a0virtual meeting<\/a> that a Democratic House could pass voting rights legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope we could do that because I really think that\u2019s our only hope legislatively,\u201d Clyburn said.<\/p>\n

Democrats have long called for the passage of a bill to restore preclearance, a major element of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court paused in 2013, which required states and local governments with a history of racial discrimination to obtain federal permission before making voting changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the measure would face a certain filibuster in the U.S. Senate. Even if Democrats broke a filibuster, Trump would likely veto it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In effect, Democrats\u2019 most realistic opportunity to enact major voting rights legislation relies on regaining control of the White House and Congress and ending the filibuster \u2014 a set of conditions that\u2019s out of reach until at least 2029.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, more Democrats are calling for aggressive gerrymandering of blue states as a way to punch back. U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Joseph Morelle, both New York Democrats, on Monday announced an initiative to encourage their state to redraw congressional districts ahead of the 2028 election.<\/p>\n

Gerrymandering New York would be an intensive effort, likely requiring voters to repeal or suspend anti-gerrymandering provisions in the state constitution. But voters in California and Virginia have previously endorsed Democratic gerrymanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning,\u201d Jeffries said in a statement. \u201cAcross the nation, we will sue, we will redraw and we will win.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson, a Memphis Democrat, speaks to a crowd of protesters on May 5, 2026, the first day of a special legislative session called by Republican Gov. Bill Lee to redraw Tennessee\u2019s congressional districts. 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Justin Pearson, a Memphis Democrat, speaks to a crowd of protesters on May 5, 2026, the first day of a special legislative session called by Republican Gov. Bill Lee to redraw Tennessee\u2019s congressional districts. (Photo by Cassandra Stephenson\/Tennessee Lookout) The day after the U.S. Supreme Court crippled the federal Voting Rights Act,...","og_url":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/","og_site_name":"WestplexNews.com","article_published_time":"2026-05-07T14:08:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/justinpearson2026-1024x768.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Brad Hildebrand","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brad Hildebrand","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Brad Hildebrand","@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/86ac6e2a917ca881b22f6d55d1b955f0"},"headline":"\u2018Killing our vote\u2019: GOP states rush to break up Black districts after US Supreme Court case","datePublished":"2026-05-07T14:08:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/"},"wordCount":2165,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/justinpearson2026-1024x768-ovqnlM.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/","url":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/killing-our-vote-gop-states-rush-to-break-up-black-districts-after-us-supreme-court-case-2\/","name":"\u2018Killing our vote\u2019: GOP states rush to break up Black districts after US Supreme Court case - 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