Le[e]gal Brief: The Voting Rights Act Was Gutted. What’s Next? 

In late April, the Supreme Court effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act in its ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. In this week’s Le[e]gal Brief, attorney Lee Merritt breaks down what the ruling means and the steps we can take to fight back going forward. 

In gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court has significantly raised the bar for proving a racial gerrymander. Lawyers and activists effectively need a recording of state legislators saying, “We’re drawing this map to disenfranchise Black people,” to prove that a map disenfranchises Black people. 

Several states have already triggered redistricting efforts as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, which basically says that Black voting power is not worth protecting. Tennessee wasted no time in passing through a new congressional map that eliminates the state’s lone, majority-Black district.

“Let me say it clearly so nobody can miss it: that is a setback,” Merritt says at the opening of the video. Merritt goes on to break down how Republicans played the long game in building their conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court that has spent the last decade rolling back previously established rights. 

“Here’s the truth your Civics teacher didn’t tell you: civil rights in this country have never been won by a single court case,” Merritt explains in the video. “Not Brown v. Board of Education. Not Loving. Every one of those was the back end of a campaign—years of organizing. Lawyers, activists, and ordinary people moving lockstep towards a specific goal.” 

In each Le[e]gal Brief, Lee Merritt introduces himself as “the movement lawyer.” In today’s video, he breaks down what that means. 

“A movement lawyer isn’t a lawyer riding in to save the day. In fact, it’s the opposite,” Merritt explains. “It’s a lawyer in the passenger’s seat. Taking directions from the community and building a legal strategy around an organizing campaign.” 

While it’s very easy to feel discouraged in this current moment, Merritt notes that if we want to do something about it, we’re going to have to expand our thinking beyond the current Supreme Court. From expanding the Supreme Court to strengthening voter rights in state constitutions, there are still numerous tools at our disposal to ensure our hard-fought rights are protected.

Merritt himself is launching a course this summer to teach undergrad and graduate law students the skills necessary to become effective movement lawyers. Even if you’re not a lawyer, there are still ways for you to fight back. Go to your city council meetings, get involved with community organizing, and stay active in your local elections. We only have so much control over the nonsense happening in the federal government, but you can still affect positive change in your own backyard. 

“They handed us a setback, they did not hand us a defeat,” Merrit says. “A defeat is when you stop fighting, and we are not stopping. We are not shrinking our dreams to fit their court.” 

Our rights are under attack now more than ever. To stay up to date on how these attacks affect you and what you can do to fight them, please keep up with your weekly Le[e]gal Brief. 

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