Kemp won't order redistricting in Georgia after Supreme Court weakens Voting Rights Act

Caption

An American flag waves in front of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 2, 2020.

Credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File

The Supreme Court has weakened a key tool of the Voting Rights Act that has helped root out racial discrimination in voting for more than half a century in a case concerning a Black majority congressional district in Louisiana.

The Wednesday ruling could open the door for Republican-led states to eliminate Black and Latino electoral districts that tend to favor Democrats and affect the balance of power in Congress. 

But Georgia won't be among them in the immediate term. Though he supported the court decision, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp ruled out calling a special session to redraw Georgia's maps in 2026.

“The Supreme Court’s decision Louisiana v. Callais restores fairness to our redistricting process and allows states to pass electoral maps that reflect the will of the voters, not the will of federal judges," Kemp said in a Friday statement. "Voting is already underway for the 2026 elections, but it’s clear that Callais requires Georgia to adopt new electoral maps before the 2028 election cycle."

Redrawing Georgia’s maps for the 2026 elections would have been difficult because early voting is already underway for the May 19 party primaries, in advance of the November election.

But one leading GOP candidate to replace Kemp had urged the governor to act immediately, which could protect Republican power even if Georgia Democrats make gains this fall.

“Democrats nationally are trying to redistrict their way back to power, and what happened in Virginia is just the tip of the spear,” businessman Rick Jackson said in a statement. “There is no time to waste. Georgia must act now to ensure secure elections in Georgia and counter the Democrats’ national assault on our elections.”

Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is Black, says he would not be in Congress without the Voting Rights Act and slammed the Supreme Court’s decision as a blow for racial justice.

“Make no mistake, this ruling harkens back to the darkest days of the Jim Crow era,” he told reporters.

Americans, he said, are being “further squeezed out of their democracy.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus pledged to fight back after the Supreme Court decision and called for the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, a New York Democrat who chairs the caucus, told reporters that the decision allows politicians to “choose their voters instead of the other way around.”

“The Supreme Court has opened the door to a coordinated attack on Black voters across the country,” Clarke said. “This is an outright power grab.”

King family ‘deeply troubled’ by Supreme Court decision

Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and his wife Arndrea Waters King said in a statement that the Supreme Court decision “further weakened the Voting Rights Act.”

“This decision silences the voices of millions of voters of color by undermining the purpose of the VRA — securing and protecting the political rights of Black and Brown communities across the country,” they said. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood that voting rights are the foundation of our entire democratic system. Without them, we are a democracy in name only. “

Over time, the decision could result in a sweeping rollback to Black political power at the state and local level.

There are hundreds of Black state legislators in the South. There are many more Black officials on county and parish governing bodies, school boards and city councils that make decisions about policing, road paving and school districting that touch everyday lives.

In many cases, Black-majority districts that those officials represent have been carved out through decades of repeated Section 2 litigation. In states like Alabama and Mississippi, the racial cleavage is so deep that there are few Democratic state legislators who aren’t Black.

Wednesday’s ruling could let white majorities wipe out districts where Black voters exercise power, particularly where they are numerous but in the minority. That would be a change from today, where Black officials often exercise real influence, even on governing bodies where they are in the minority.