1. United States
2. Letter

With your recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais, in addition to your previously undermining the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in Shelby County v. Holder (2013) and Brnovich v. DNC (2021), you are effectively taking an axe to our democracy and disenfranchise millions of voters. Today Tennessee state representative Justin Jones burned a Confederate battle flag in the rotunda of the Tennessee State Capitol in protest of the legislature’s redrawing of the state’s congressional district maps to erase the majority-Black 9th Congressional District. By cracking the city of Memphis into three pieces and joining them to White suburbs, the legislature turned all the state’s districts into Republican seats. The actions of the Republicans in the Tennessee legislature are a direct response to the Supreme Court’s April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which found that in creating a second congressional district to enable Black voters to elect a representative of their choice, as mandated by the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Louisiana legislature unconstitutionally took race into account when drawing the district lines. (Although the Supreme Court’s clerk normally waits 32 days to finalize an opinion, the Supreme Court made the decision effective immediately to allow Louisiana, where the primary election was already underway, to redraw its maps.) Tennessee is now expected to send only Republicans to Congress. Just minutes after the Republicans cut Memphis into thirds to get rid of the voices of Black Democrats, Republican state senator Brent Taylor announced he was running for the new seat “to stand with President Trump and cement Tennessee’s conservative legacy for generations to come.” Immediately, other Republican-dominated state governments rushed to redistrict their states to eliminate majority-Black districts, thus slashing through Democratic representation in their states. Although a federal court injunction forbids Alabama from redrawing its maps before the 2030 census, Republican governor Kay Ivey called for the state to do so, and Republican attorney general Steve Marshall has filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court to let the state revert to a map struck down in 2023 because it was racially gerrymandered. Republican-dominated legislatures in Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, and Florida have redistricted to pick up Republican seats, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Alabama are engaged in that process. This is all being done in a rush to try to subvert the will of the majority of voters in this country who are souring on the Trump administration and the power grab Trump and the GOP have made to quickly consolidate power. If the Republican party had a popular platform, they wouldn't need to rig the elections in their favor, but clearly they have decided that their far right, Christian nationalist agenda trumps their Constitutional duty to represent their constituents. The Supreme Court has just handed them the tools they need to accomplish this, going against previous Supreme Court precedent to side with an alarmingly authoritarian President and the Republican party. You have proven that your goal is no longer to uphold our Constitution, but instead have become political players and pawns. You are taking generations of forward progress away from us. By doing so, you disgrace our country and everything it stands for. You will not be portrayed kindly by history as you try to erase our country's proud legacy of people fighting for equality and justice. You might as well be spitting on the graves of John Lewis and all of the brave children, women, and men who put their lives on the line on Bloody Sunday.