Supreme Court OKs Racial Gerrymandering in South Carolina

In 2023, three federal judges determined that South Carolina’s gerrymandered First Congressional District voting map was racially motivated and constituted a “bleaching of African American voters” from the district.

The revised map moved more than two-thirds of Black Charlestonians out of the county. Now, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court has decided that the voting map can remain in place. This decision will help normalize racial gerrymandering and make it harder for voting maps to be challenged in the court of law.

Since 2010, the Supreme Court’s decisions have steadily eroded free and fair elections in this country:

• In 2010 the court presided over Citizens United, which enabled corporations to boost their interests at the expense of the interests of everyday Americans. By pouring billions of dollars into candidate elections, corporations gained the ability to influence the policy decisions of lawmakers
• In 2013, the court ripped the heart out of the Voting Rights Act, dismantling Section 5, which required nine mostly Southern states with a history of racially discriminatory voting policies to obtain federal approval before making changes to their voting laws and processes. (The Brennan Center for Justice has shown that the gap between white and nonwhite voter turnout has grown steadily since)
• And in 2019, it ruled that federal courts are barred from hearing partisan gerrymandering cases, allowing ever more flagrantly partisan voting maps

It’s easy to feel helpless in the face of these assaults on our electoral system. But every opportunity we have to cast our vote is an opportunity to elect justices and other officials who are committed to upholding our democracy.