Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, in the recent case that restricted the use of race in designing a Louisiana congressional district.
Thomas wrote: "This Court should never have interpreted (Section) 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to effectively give racial groups 'an entitlement to roughly proportional representation.' ... By doing so, the Court led legislatures and courts to 'systematically divid(e) the country into electoral districts along racial lines.' ... 'Blacks (we)re drawn into 'black districts' and given 'black representatives'; Hispanics (we)re drawn into Hispanic districts and given 'Hispanic representatives'; and so on. That interpretation rendered (Section) 2 'repugnant to any nation that strives for the ideal of a color-blind Constitution.' ... Today's decision should largely put an end to this 'disastrous misadventure' in voting-rights jurisprudence."
Critics argue the ruling is not colorblind in effect because race-neutral districting can dilute minority voting power. But this assumes a) non-black and non-Hispanic voters would not vote for black or Hispanic candidates; and b) the interests of black and Hispanic voters can only be pursued by black and Hispanic members of Congress.
For Democrats, the effect of this ruling could be politically catastrophic. A report from Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund said: "Combined with Republicans' mid-decade gerrymandering, a ruling gutting Section 2 could help secure an additional 27 safe Republican U.S. House seats when compared to the 2024 House maps — at least 19 directly tied to the loss of Section 2."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, "Instead of protecting the ability for American citizens to freely cast their ballot, Republican extremists have embraced voter suppression and racial gerrymandering to desperately cling to power. The corrupt conservative majority on the Supreme Court appointed by Donald Trump has taken a blowtorch to the Voting Rights Act. Why? The extremists need to cheat to win."
It is not clear how removing race as a criterion in constructing congressional districts amounts to "cheating." Nor is it clear how this majority of justices, nominated by Republican presidents, renders the court "corrupt."
As for "Republican extremists embracing voter suppression," Jeffries presumably means voter ID laws. But polls show a large majority of blacks support voter ID by percentages close to those of whites. Georgia, in 2021, enacted voter ID and voter-integrity laws called by President Joe Biden "worse than Jim Crow — it's Jim Eagle." But the percentage of blacks who voted exceeded the black voting percentages of most pre-2021 Georgia elections.
Let's turn to Jeffries' accusation about Republicans' supposed use of "racial gerrymandering." In 2017, Politico wrote: "Former (Obama) Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday officially launched the National Democratic Redistricting Committee ... as the center of Democratic rebuilding in the era of President-elect Donald Trump and as Democrats' main hope to roll back Republican gains in state legislatures and prepare for redistricting in 2021. The end goal: House majorities in Congresses elected after 2020."
To that end, Eric Holder supported race-conscious redistricting efforts designed to increase black electoral influence. About a district in Alabama in 2024, for example, the Associated Press wrote: "The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which Holder chairs, supported the legal battle that led to the district being redrawn into a competitive seat where Black voters have the opportunity to influence the outcome."
Finally, about voters voting based on race, there are four black Republican members of the U.S. House, none of whom represent a majority-black district. Even Democrat Maxine Waters, a harsh critic of the court ruling and a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, represents a district that is only about 20 percent black. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-9), who is white, succeeded Rep. Harold Ford Jr., who is black, in representing a majority-black district. And a recent Gallup poll finds Trump's approval rating among blacks at 16 percent, up from 12 percent in his first term.
Contrary to what many Democratic politicians say and how they act, this is not their grandfather's America. But many Democrat politicians do not want a colorblind society. They want a color-coordinated one — as long as they oversee the coordination.
My advice to Democrats after this ruling is simple: calm down. The days of poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses are long over. As Thomas Sowell says, "When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination."
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an "Elderado," visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder.