Article by:
U.S. Congressman Steven Horsford
This month, the United States Supreme Court ruled on the Allen v Milligan case about the Congressional maps drawn in Alabama. Wes Allen, the Secretary of State of Alabama, was sued by Evan Milligan because the maps violated the Voting Rights Act of 1964 by diluting the Black vote, thus denying the Black voters in Alabama a majority-minority Congressional seat. In a vote of 5-4, the court sided with Milligan and agreed that maps did violate the Voting Rights Act, thus ordering the state to correct the map and impacting several other states with similar cases in the courts, including Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and possibly others.
This decision is a monumental victory in the battle for voting rights in our nation and for all Nevadans. Our voting rights have been under assault, often at the cost of Black and other minority voters and their electoral strength. When the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act in their 2013 decision in Shelby v. Holder, they opened the door to many states finding ways to make it harder for communities of color to exercise their right to vote. Had the Supreme Court not made that mistake in 2013, the Milligan case would have never happened because the Department of Justice would have been required to approve the new maps Alabama and the other states proposed.
This decision in the Allen v. Milligan case before the Supreme Court clarifies that states cannot draw legislative maps that racially discriminate and dilute the power of communities of color. 1 in 4 residents of Alabama is Black, yet out of their 7 Congressional seats, only one is represented by a Black Member of Congress. In the Georgia case, plaintiffs argue that Republican-drawn maps made an Atlanta-based district more reliant on white voters despite people of color driving the region’s population boom.
After the ruling, Evan Milligan said, "Moving forward, we will continue organizing to ensure that all states draw accurately representative maps that include the say of Black and Brown communities." As your Congressman, I will continue to push to protect our American democracy and secure the right to vote for all people by passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. As my former colleague, the late Congressman John R. Lewis, said, ‘The right to vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.’”