How the Supreme Court’s Rightward Shift Undermines Economic Justice and Democracy

The Supreme Court’s 6–3, party-line decision in Louisiana v. Callais last week dealt a major blow to voting rights by gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a law designed to prevent politicians from drawing district maps that dilute the political power of Black and brown voters. This ruling is the latest in a series of decisions from the Roberts Court that signal a broader, anti-democratic judicial campaign.

This campaign traces back to Citizens United, when the Court opened the floodgates to corporate money in politics. Another landmark decision, Trump v. United States, reinforced this trend by granting former President Trump immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, further eroding democratic norms.

The pro-democracy movement has sounded the alarm, warning that judicial reforms are urgently needed. Advocates for reproductive rights and gun safety have also raised concerns after devastating losses, including the Court’s stripping of bodily autonomy rights and its decision that the Constitution limits elected leaders’ ability to address school shootings.

Why the Economic Policy Community Must Prioritize Court Reform

Yet one group has largely remained silent on the Court’s direction and how to counter it: the progressive economic policy community. It is time for this group to make court reform a top priority. No economic agenda can succeed without addressing the judiciary, as the same broken courts dismantling multiracial democracy are also blocking efforts to curb corporate power and deliver economic relief to working Americans.

The Supreme Court is not only protecting former President Trump—it is actively obstructing meaningful economic reform. Under Chief Justice Roberts’ leadership, the Court has systematically dismantled protections for workers and consumers while entrenching economic inequality.

How the Roberts Court Has Reshaped the Economy

• Citizens United flooded politics with corporate money, making it harder to pass laws that regulate corporate power.
• For workers and consumers seeking justice, the Court has raised barriers to enforcing existing laws, including making it harder to bring antitrust cases and upholding forced arbitration clauses that strip employees of their day in court.
• The Court has also gutted class-action lawsuits, which once allowed ordinary people to collectively challenge corporate misconduct.

A recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper analyzed every economically significant Supreme Court case from 1953 to 2022 and found the partisan gap in pro-wealthy rulings has surged to 47 percentage points, up from near zero in the 1950s.

Lower Courts Block Billions in Relief for Working Families

The judiciary’s impact extends beyond the Supreme Court. Lower courts have blocked hundreds of billions of dollars in economic relief intended for working families. For example:

• Courts struck down the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete clauses, which would have freed 30 million workers to change jobs and boosted wages by over $400 billion annually.