Reality Check 101

The Supreme Court, on April 29^th, handed down their decision concerning the Voting Rights Act 1965 (VRA) as it applied to Louisiana’s purposely racially designed voting district. I am no lawyer, nor do I intend to become one, but I think anybody looking at the situation and actually taking the time to read the decision, should be able to come up with the same questions I have for liberals whose hair is on fire.

First, just for the sake of review, let’s take a look at how we got here.  After the 2020 census, Louisiana went through a redistricting process.  The final map went into effect in March of 2022.  The map included one majority black district but was immediately challenged in court as a violation of the VRA and the equal protection clause of the 14^th Amendment.  After a long legal battle, on January 22^nd of 2024 the state established another map that included a second, specifically-gerrymandered black district (District 6).  Only nine days later a group led by Phillip Callais filed a lawsuit challenging the new map as unconstitutionally race-based.

So here we are.  A little over two weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the 2024 Louisiana map was indeed an unconstitutional racially gerrymandered map.  In other words, Louisiana had used a racially discriminatory practice to supposedly help the black minority (30%) from being discriminated against by discriminating against non-black voters who, in that new district, would have little if any representation. 

Now we are in the midst of a redistricting madhouse.  It’s all the rage.  Tit-for-tat. Who can come out in the end with the most seats in Congress through all kinds of manipulation of voter populations. 

Why all the hubbub?  How is it that after 50 years of the Voting Rights Act and 150 years of the 14^th Amendment, have both red and blue states suddenly gotten a conscience?  If that’s the case, it would mean that over all those years, politicians and power brokers have gratuitously used a perverted system for their own purposes – whether for good or for ill, whether for their constituents or for themselves.  One has to wonder, “So, what are they all doing now?”

Second.  How is it that almost immediately after passage of the VRA, was it used to justify the opposite of its text?   The VRA literally says: “No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color, or in contravention of the guarantees set forth in section 1973b”!  How can a prohibition against voting discrimination based on “…race or color” be use to do exactly the opposite through gerrymandered districting – for almost 50 years?

Spare me a lesson on historical discrimination.  One wrong does not justify another.  Reverse discrimination in redistricting is still discrimination.

Finally, and most importantly, why is the current foray into redistricting all about red versus blue?  The most significant outcome of the Court’s decision should be about conscience and justice, not political horseplay.  There was a problem of justice and righteousness in Louisiana and apparently across the rest of the nation as well.  Maybe we-the-people should be demanding that kind of accountability instead of allowing power players to, once again, ignore the real issues.