Sam D. Hayes

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President Lyndon Johnson hands a pen to civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the signing of the Voting Rights Act in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 6, 1965. Hulton Archive, Washington Bureau/Getty Images

Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling makes it harder to protect minority voting power and alters the landscape of future elections

Sam D. Hayes, Simmons University

The conservative majority at the US Supreme Court has issued a ruling in a gerrymandering case that one liberal justice called the ‘now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act.’
Black Louisiana voters and civil rights advocates ask U.S. Supreme Court justices to uphold a fair and representative congressional map in Louisiana v. Callais on March 24, 2025. Jemal Countess/Getty Images

Supreme Court redistricting ruling could upend decades of voting rights law – and tilt the balance of power in Washington

Sam D. Hayes, Simmons University

A case being argued at the US Supreme Court could undo one of the last remaining protections for minority voters in a Civil Rights-era voting law.
Taiwan Scott, who sued South Carolina over a new congressional map he said curbed Black voting power, speaking outside the Supreme Court in 2023. Shannon Finney/Getty Images for Rooted Logistics

Voting rights at risk after Supreme Court makes it harder to challenge racial gerrymandering

Sam D. Hayes, Trinity College

In two recent rulings, the conservative justices handed state lawmakers new power to redraw congressional maps to their liking – including in ways that end up diluting the Black vote.
Overturning decades of tradition, the Supreme Court in 2022 let Alabama use voting districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Voting in unconstitutional districts: US Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in 2022 by allowing voters to vote with gerrymandered maps instead of fixing the congressional districts first

Sam D. Hayes, Trinity College

Historically, federal courts prioritized voting rights and legal congressional districts for upcoming elections above all other concerns. But the Supreme Court changed that in 2022.

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