Need to Cheat to Win : The Supreme Court Just Handed Republicans a Weapon Against Black Voters , and Theyre Already Using It to Erase Democratic Seats Off the Map

“I love it.” That was President Donald Trump’s immediate reaction in the Oval Office on Wednesday after learning from reporters of the Supreme Court’s decision that day that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the landmark civil rights law that restricted racial gerrymandering and racial discrimination in voting. Asked if Republican-led states should now redraw their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 elections, he said, “I would.” Later in the day, Trump praised the 6-3 ruling on Truth Social as a “BIG WIN for Equal Protection under the Law, as it returns the Voting Rights Act to its Original Intent,” and thanked “brilliant” Justice Samuel Alito for authoring the majority opinion. Louisiana effectively invalidates Section 2 of the VRA as it has been understood for four decades without explicitly striking down the statute, explained Democracy Docket, a progressive news site. It now will require proof of intentional discrimination — something Congress did not write into the law and that’s difficult for plaintiffs to show — in order for gerrymandered districts to be overturned.