Supreme Court Ruling on Voting Rights Act Sparks Concerns Over Racial Representation in U.S. Politics

This is a lightly edited transcript of the May 1 edition of Right Now With Perry Bacon. You can watch the video here or follow the show on YouTube or Substack.

Perry Bacon: I’m Perry Bacon. I’m the host of The New Republic show Right Now. We have a great guest. Kimberlé Crenshaw is a professor of law at UCLA and Columbia, and she’s well known for her work on intersectionality, as well as her decades-long career as a professor, activist, and expert.

Kimberlé Crenshaw: Always happy to be in conversation with you, Perry. Thanks for having me.

Bacon: Yes—you were a great guest in November. You have a memoir out, so I want to talk about that. But first, I want to address important news from yesterday. You’re the right person to ask about this.

We now have another Supreme Court ruling further limiting the Voting Rights Act. As we speak, legislators and governors in Alabama, Louisiana, and other states are discussing how to redraw districts to further reduce the number of Black representatives in Congress and state legislatures.

Crenshaw’s Response to the Supreme Court Ruling

Crenshaw: Perry, it was sadly expected. Anyone following the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence over the last two decades knows we’re seeing a deliberate, devastating approach to the civil rights movement’s infrastructure. The Voting Rights Act has been particularly painful to watch as it’s being dismantled.

It’s been called the crown jewel of the civil rights movement for good reason. It’s the only law that focuses on results—on representation—and anything done in states with a history of denying African Americans the right to vote is potentially subject to intervention.

Most other laws aren’t like that. To compare voting to housing: practices and policies that predictably produce segregated housing—such as insurance, lending, redlining, or restrictive covenants—are suspicious because they lead to discrimination, segregation, and white supremacy. That’s what the Voting Rights Act has done. That’s what it has been. It’s one of the most successful laws in the U.S. in achieving a specific objective.

Now, unfortunately, as you mentioned, these state legislatures are quickly moving forward—now that they have the green light—to redraw districts. We’re about to see how critical the Voting Rights Act was for Black representation in this country.