Captain America

California Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give the party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win control of the lower chamber next year. If voters approve the plan in November, it could flip almost every Republican congressional district in the Golden State.

While Texas’ remapping exercise was designed to suppress the voting power of minority communities, its well to know that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) — a landmark U.S. federal statute that prohibits racial discrimination in voting — is whats under scrutiny. Considered to be the most significant piece of federal civil rights legislation since the Reconstruction Era, the VRA in recent days has become the lynchpin to free and fair elections and a litmus test for the republic.

The Voting Rights Act is a litmus test for the republic.

Despite Monday’s missive to lead a movement to rid the nation of mail-in-ballots and voting machines with executive orders, the White House on Tuesday ditched the president’s approach in lieu of the U.S. Congress. When they return on 8 September, they’ll face off not with the West Wing but the U.S. Constitution.

The VRA has and continues to face legislative initiative and legal challenges in the courts. Shelby County v. Holder (2013) held that requiring states with a history of discrimination to obtain federal approval or pre-clearance violates the constitutional principles of federalism and equal sovereignty of the states.

Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021) went further when reviewing Arizona’s in-person, designated polling stations. The court held that Arizona's laws did not violate the VRA “because the burden they imposed on minority voters was not severe enough to be considered a discriminatory result.”

But in Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court will consider if or whether whether Louisiana’s effort to comply with the VRA is itself unconstitutional. After a federal court ruled that the state’s original congressional map illegally diluted Black voting power, lawmakers created a second majority-Black district to fix it. Now, opponents argue that even considering race to correct that injustice amounts to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

If the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a transformative piece of legislation aimed at prohibiting racial discrimination in voting “the country has changed.” Chief Justice John Roberts writes in Shelby.

The targeted discriminatory practices of the past are no longer in use, and federal oversight is no longer justified.

In 2023, the Supreme Court surprised many by ruling in favor of Black voters in Allen v. Milligan, a case challenging Alabama’s congressional map for diluting Black voting power. Lower courts had found that Alabama likely violated Section 2 of the VRA and ordered the creation of a second majority-Black district. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s ruling.

As the Court prepares to revisit Louisiana in October 2025, the question isn’t if the VRA will survive, but rather if or whether the Fifteenth Amendment is equal to the task? The Constitution’s promise of racial equality at the ballot box is clear, yet almost every case designed to uphold that promise has been subsequently invalidated or debunked by the High Court.

The Reconstruction Amendments emancipated the slaves; granted their citizenship and equal protection; and prohibited discrimination in voting rights of citizens on the basis of race. Whats often missed is that the amendments collectively delivered people of color into poverty. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a manifestation of that poverty, and their right to work for jobs, economic fairness, and freedom in the American Civil Rights Movement.

At its core, a principle in play in Washington today is that to consider race at all is now unconstitutional. As the VRA slowly disappears behind an American flag inspired costume with a virtually indestructible shield, the cost of liberty is high. Both the White and Black manifestations of Captain America intrinsically understood that price.