Environmental groups are on the defensive amid a Republican-led congressional redistricting blitz in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act and warning that new maps could disenfranchise voters in areas burdened by the impacts of pollution and climate change.
Republicans in at least four GOP-led states — Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina — are looking to unseat Democrats by gerrymandering to break up congressional districts in which a majority of the population are Black or another minority racial or ethnic group following the Louisiana v. Callais ruling.
The ruling struck down a Louisiana district because it was drawn to have mostly Black residents. Environmentalists including the League of Conservation Voters called the verdict “a distressing decision.”
“But it wasn’t unforeseen,” added Justin Kwasa, director of the League of Conservation Voters’ democracy project, during an interview. “There’s been a conscious attempt by the conservative Supreme Court to fully eliminate voting rights protections for Black communities.”
While the court didn’t explicitly overturn the Voting Rights Act section that mandated majority-minority constituencies in some places, GOP lawmakers are seizing on the ruling to break up those districts ahead of this year’s midterm elections in a bid to maximize Republican seats.
Environmentalists argue majority-minority districts, which mainly favored Democrats, are a way to empower communities that frequently see outsize impacts of pollution because many polluting industries are located near those neighborhoods.
Kwasa pointed to the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision that overturned the Voting Rights Act’s requirement that certain states get clearance from the Justice Department before carrying out certain changes to their election policies.
LCV has in recent years put a more direct focus on issues around voting and democracy, including through support for the “For the People Act,” which would crack down on partisan gerrymandering and put new limits on campaign finance; and the “John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” which aims to reinstate some of the Voting Rights Act provisions that have been overturned.
Kwasa linked the issue to environmental justice, the push to reduce unequal impacts of pollution on Black and other communities of color.
“It’s always been the polluters’ playbook to go into communities that have traditionally been underrepresented in our democracy for various reasons in order to get their plans across,” he continued.
“That’s why we always talk about how voting rights are so important, particularly for protecting communities of color, because when polluters do attack, when polluters do try to get their way, the first place they will attack our communities of color,” he said.
Kwasa said LCV’s post-Callais strategy is to push back against states now trying to eliminate majority-Black districts, increase turnout among voters of color to reduce the influence of redistricting and to advocate for laws to stop partisan gerrymandering and better protect voting rights.
“We’re thinking about what legislation it will take in order to put the power back into people’s hands, whether making independent redistricting a full thing, or changing voting laws in order to update them,” he said. “The Voting Rights Act is 60 years old and voter suppression doesn’t look the same today.”
LCV wasn’t alone in slamming the Callais decision. The Sierra Club called the ruling a “major step backward for the country.”
“It enables an ongoing coordinated and partisan effort — by the Trump Administration and Republican majorities in Congress and across many state houses — that further disenfranchises voters of color and limits their access to democracy,” Loren Blackford, the Sierra Club’s executive director, said in a statement.
“Communities of color in the United States already shoulder a disproportionate burden of pollution and environmental injustice, and are often the frontlines of the disastrous impacts of the climate crisis,” she said.
Along with Greenpeace USA and dozens of other organizations, LCV also signed onto a letter led by Stand Up America, that calls for term limits for Supreme Court justices, a legal code of ethics for the court and the “John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.”
“Without passing structural court reforms, the Court’s far-right supermajority can be expected to halt any future attempts by Congress to restore our democracy, rein in executive power, and protect voting rights, including by striking down a future Voting Rights Act. It is time that Democrats recognize this reality,” the groups wrote.
Next steps
Tennessee is the first state to eliminate its majority-Black district following the ruling. Gov. Bill Lee (R) last week signed into law a new congressional map that breaks the 9th District, based in Memphis, and puts its voters into three Republican-majority constituencies.
Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee’s sole congressional Democrat, currently represents the 9th District. He’s facing a primary challenge from state Rep. Justin Pearson, a community organizer who first rose to fame fighting against a proposed oil pipeline.
Alabama has started its redistricting process, aiming to break up the districts held by Democratic Reps. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures and make the state’s entire congressional delegation Republican.
Louisiana is set to act to eliminate at least one of its two majority-Black districts. Gov. Jeff Landry (R) acted to delay the state’s primaries for the U.S. House that had been scheduled for this month in order to give legislators time to redraw the map.
The 2023 redistricting that created the second majority-Black district ended up dooming then-Rep. Garret Graves (R), a major figure in the House in areas like climate change and energy permitting. Graves has not yet indicated if he’ll run in one of the redrawn constituencies.
South Carolina is also moving toward eliminating Democratic Rep. James Clyburn’s district, the only majority-Black one in the state. The state House last week extended its legislative calendar to stay in session for an anticipated redistricting vote.
The pre-midterm elections redistricting war started when President Donald Trump pushed Texas to maximize its number of majority-Republican House districts. Democrats responded by redoing the map in California.
But the party faced a setback Friday when the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a voter-approved ballot initiative that would have made it harder for Republican incumbents in that state.
