The Supreme Court is currently considering a Louisiana redistricting case that could have a greater impact on House of Representatives seats than the Texas and California “gerrymandering” maneuvers combined.
The New York Times noted, “Democrats would be in danger of losing around a dozen majority-minority districts across the South if the court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act.” Meanwhile, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tweeted: “How many people just realized that Dems had as many as 20 extra seats based on years of unconstitutional race-based gerrymandering?”
For the purpose of “racial justice” under the Voting Rights Act, Democratic legislatures and politicians created several “majority-minority” districts to elect Black and Hispanic congressional members. The Supreme Court is set to rule on whether these districts violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project and a supporter of these majority-minority districts, said: “Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has been a critical tool in safeguarding the promise that people of color can participate in our democracy on equal terms.” She added, “It has been our shield against discriminatory maps and our answer to laws designed to suppress the vote. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act with overwhelming, bipartisan support and reauthorized it again and again because our leaders understood a fundamental truth: you cannot cure discrimination by pretending it doesn’t exist.”
Janai Nelson, a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), told the court, “It was clear that, regardless of party, white Democrats were not voting for Black candidates whether they were Democrats or not. We know that there is such a significant chasm between how Black and white voters vote in Louisiana that there is no question that even if there is some correlation between race and party, that race is the driving factor.”
The Supreme Court has previously addressed race-based gerrymandering in landmark cases such as *Shaw v. Reno* (1993) and *Miller v. Johnson* (1995), where it ruled against districts where race was the dominant factor in redistricting. After the *Miller* decision, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson called the ruling “ethnic cleansing.” Elaine Jones, of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, stated, “The noose is tightening.” Her colleague, Theodore Shaw, warned that if this decision stands, the Black Congressional Caucus “could meet in the back seat of a taxicab.”
Despite concerns, among Black House members in four redesigned majority-white Southern districts who chose to run for reelection, three won and one chose not to run.
In a related example, Abilene, Texas—a city that is more than 75 percent white—gave President Trump 80 percent of its vote in 2016. Shortly after Mr. Trump’s election, Abilene elected its first Black mayor.
Republican Black congressman Byron Donalds of Florida recently said: “Myself, Wesley Hunt, Burgess Owens, John James—we are all Black men who represent majority-white districts,” referring to Texas, Utah, and Michigan, respectively. Tim Scott is a United States senator from South Carolina, which, while having a strong Black population, remains predominantly white.
America’s three largest cities—New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—all have Black mayors, even though none of these cities is majority Black. There are many examples of Black officials elected to statewide offices in a country where no state has a majority Black population. These include Senators Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Carol Moseley Braun, and Cory Booker, as well as Governors Doug Wilder, Deval Patrick, and Wes Moore.
Looking back to the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama’s principal rival for the Democratic nomination was Hillary Clinton. Mr. Obama was attempting to become the first Black president, while Mrs. Clinton was attempting to become the first female president. On the Republican side, the primary contenders were Governor Mitt Romney—the potential first Mormon president—and Senator John McCain, who would become the oldest elected president at age 72.
In February 2007, Gallup found that 5 percent of Americans said they “would not vote for” a Black presidential candidate; 11 percent “would not vote for” a woman; 24 percent “would not vote for” a Mormon; and 42 percent “would not vote for” a presidential candidate who is “72 years of age.” Thus, Mr. Obama faced the lowest hurdle among these candidates.
Regarding the Supreme Court, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has criticized Republican-appointed justices, calling them “often underqualified or completely unqualified for their role.” Yet nothing says qualified quite like a bartender-turned-congressional candidate—and AOC’s election proves that despite America’s “systemic racism,” there remains hope.