"In order to have a fair legislative response [to the Supreme Court's gutting of the VRA], we need fair maps so that we can elect people who will restore the Voting Rights Act in its fullness. It's sort of a chicken and an egg problem, isn't it?" asks Sonali Kolhatkar. Unlock the full interview to see the answer to this question.
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FEATURING KIMBERLY SMITHERMAN & DAVID DALEY - The United States Supreme Court in late April issued a sweeping 6-3 ruling in the case of Louisiana v. Callais, effectively gutting the 1965 Voting Rights Act. All six conservative justices voted in favor of a Republican challenge to Louisiana’s current district maps that ensured at least two Black voting blocs. Republicans have long attempted to dilute the voting power of people of color by drawing demographically favorable maps and ensuring disproportionately white and Republican representation.
In an unusual move, the court also expedited the implementation of its decision, forgoing the usual 32-day delay, so that Louisiana can redraw its maps ahead of its primary election.
In a 4-page dissent, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson excoriated her colleagues on the court, calling the decision “unwarranted and unwise,” and accusing them of impartiality. And, Justice Elena Kagan, in her dissent, reminded her fellow justices of the VRA’s history, saying, “[The Voting Rights Act] was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers.”
Kimberly Smitherman is the Founding Partner and CEO of Foot Soldiers Park and David Daley is a senior fellow at FairVote and the author of Antidemocratic: Inside the Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections, a history of John Roberts, the Supreme Court and the Voting Rights Act. They spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about what the Supreme Court decision could impact voters of color.
ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:
Sonali Kolhatkar: Kimberly, let me begin with you. I think 61 years ago feels like a really long time, but it's actually not that long. There's plenty of people still alive today who remember what it looked like, what it felt to spill their blood, as Elena Kagan was saying, to achieve the Voting Rights Act. Remind us of that history, particularly where you are, of the struggle, just briefly, the pain and the struggle of achieving that act.
Kimberly Smitherman: So yeah, it's a really devastating blow to us. Doing the work that I do, founding Foot Soldiers Park with child marching activist Ms. Joanne Bland, it really gives me a different perspective and lived experience of what the marchers, the foot soldiers, the Union soldiers, had to go through for us to get the rights to vote. Those who organized, marched, fought, bled for us to have the rights that we have today.
We like to say ordinary people did extraordinary things for us to have the right to vote. And for us to know that for years they've been continuously fighting to continue to dilute our vote, to take our vote, is really devastating for me, and it's really devastating for the foot soldiers. And I just feel like we have to continue to do the work to ensure that we are educating, activating, continuing to march, continuing to fight, and continuing to vote in order to fulfill and preserve that legacy of those foot soldiers.
