It’s the last week of early voting for the Georgia primary elections. But shortly before the first ballot was cast, the conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court gutted a crucial portion of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. It was passed in the Jim Crow-era and it’s designed to prevent racial discrimination in elections. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the landmark act alongside Atlanta’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The ruling struck down a majority Black congressional district in Louisiana. It now makes it tougher for voters across the U.S. to challenge redistricting plans that could dilute the political power of minority communities — also known as gerrymandering.
“That map is an unconstitutional gerrymander,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority, with the dissent from the court’s three liberals.
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