May 27th 2024.
On May 23, the Supreme Court made a ruling in a highly debated case, with justices split 6-3 along ideological lines. The case involved South Carolina Republicans and their drawing of electoral maps, which had previously been deemed unconstitutional by lower courts. However, the Supreme Court's decision reversed this ruling and stated that the maps did not present a barrier to Black voters exercising their political power.
As reported by ABC News, the majority opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito. In his opinion, Alito argued that the lower court's decision was incorrect and that in order to prove a map's unconstitutionality, race and politics must be separated. He also stated that there is a presumption of good faith when assessing a legislature's work. Alito believed that in this case, the lower court did not properly consider these principles.
The specific district at the center of the case was South Carolina's First Congressional district, which stretches from Savannah to Charleston. After the 2020 election, the district was realigned, resulting in several majority-Black neighborhoods being moved into a surrounding district. This led to a challenge from the South Carolina NAACP and resident Taiwan Scott.
Scott, the sole individual plaintiff in the lawsuit, expressed his belief that the redrawn district was taking away the opportunity for Black voters to elect a representative. However, Alito's opinion disagreed, stating that the evidence of racial gerrymandering was weak and circumstantial.
On the other side, Justice Elena Kagan, who authored the dissenting opinion of the liberal justices, argued that the Supreme Court's decision disregarded the work and judgment of the lower courts. She also warned of the potential consequences of this decision, stating that it could lead to further racial gerrymandering in the future.
Kagan strongly stated, "What a message to send to state legislators and mapmakers about racial gerrymandering. Those actors will often have an incentive to use race as a proxy to achieve partisan ends, and occasionally they might want to suppress the electoral influence of minority voters." She continued, "This practice of sorting citizens based on race will continue, especially in the electoral sphere where racial discrimination has been pervasive for so long. We should demand better from ourselves, our political representatives, and this Court."
Kagan's opinion was in line with her fellow liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayer and Ketnaji Brown-Jackson. She argued that the appropriate response to this case would have been to respect the lower court's findings of race-based districting and require South Carolina to redraw the district without targeting African Americans.
In response to the ruling, Janai Nelson, the president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, issued a press release echoing Kagan's concerns. Nelson stated, "The highest court in our land has allowed racial discrimination in South Carolina's redistricting process, denying Black voters the right to be free from race-based sorting. This sends a message that facts, process, and precedent will not protect the Black vote." She continued, "Today, the voices of Black South Carolinians were silenced, and if we are not careful, this could happen in other states. LDF will continue to fight for Black political power and the protection of voting rights, as these are crucial to our democracy and the ideals of the 14th and 15th Amendments."
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