The Perils of the Supreme Court Forgetting the Past.

The article focuses on the Supreme Court case Louisiana v. Callais, which challenges the Voting Rights Act (VRA) by questioning whether Louisiana’s creation of a second majority-Black congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments. Louisiana argues that race-based redistricting constitutes unconstitutional racial discrimination, while opponents maintain the VRA remains essential to protect Black Americans’ voting rights against historical and ongoing discrimination. The article situates the case within a broader historical context, emphasizing the long struggle for Black political representation following Reconstruction, the subsequent erosion of these rights through legal and extralegal means, and the importance of the VRA in addressing these injustices. It also highlights concerns that revising this history risks undermining protections that have enabled Black voter participation and could lead to renewed disenfranchisement.