REV. AL SHARPTON CONDEMNS SUPREME COURT’S DECISION TO GUT SECTION 2 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT: “A BULLET IN THE HEART OF THE VOTING RIGHTS MOVEMENT”

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REV. AL SHARPTON CONDEMNS SUPREME COURT'S DECISION TO GUT SECTION 2 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT: "A BULLET IN THE HEART OF THE VOTING RIGHTS MOVEMENT"

Sharpton Says Today's 6-3 Ruling Humiliates the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dismantles Decades of Hard-Won Civil Rights Progress

New York, NY (April 29, 2026) - Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), issued the following statement in response to the United States Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the cornerstone provision of the landmark civil rights legislation signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The ruling, in Louisiana v. Callais, narrows how courts may interpret and enforce Section 2, making it significantly harder to bring discrimination claims against electoral maps, diminishing the voting power of communities of color.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has been a legal tool protecting Black voters and voters of color from discriminatory redistricting for six decades. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court has been systematically dismantling the Voting Rights Act since 2013, when it eliminated the preclearance requirement that once forced states with histories of discrimination to get their voting maps approved by the Department of Justice before taking effect. Today's ruling does not eliminate Section 2 entirely, but as Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent, it renders the provision "all but a dead letter."

States including Texas, Florida, Mississippi, and others are already positioned to move swiftly to redraw congressional and state legislative maps that had previously been blocked or challenged under Section 2. The redistricting arms race that has defined recent election cycles will now be conducted with far less legal accountability, and Black voters, Latino voters, and communities of color across the country will bear the cost.

"Today's decision is a bullet in the heart of the voting rights movement," said Rev. Al Sharpton. "The Supreme Court has not just weakened a law, it has humiliated and dismantled the life's work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and every man and woman who marched, bled, and died for Black Americans to have an equal voice at the ballot box. Dr. King did not march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge so that six justices in Washington could quietly undo what was paid for in blood. This court has been chipping away at the Voting Rights Act for over a decade, and today they drove the knife deeper. But let me be clear: the movement does not die with this ruling. We will fight in the streets, in the courts, and in the halls of Congress until the right to vote is fully protected for every American."

NAN is calling on Congress to act immediately to restore and expand the Voting Rights Act through federal legislation. Rev. Sharpton will convene civil rights leaders, legal advocates, and elected officials in the coming weeks to build a coordinated legislative and legal response. This ruling does not just dishonor the generation that marched, it steals from the generation that hasn't voted yet. Black children growing up in this country deserve the same protections their grandparents bled for. The National Action Network will not allow a court to be the final word on their future.

About National Action Network (NAN)

National Action Network is one of the leading civil rights organizations in the Nation with chapters throughout the entire United States. Founded in 1991 by Reverend Al Sharpton, NAN works within the spirit and tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote a modern civil rights agenda that includes the fight for one standard of justice, decency, and equal opportunities for all people regardless of race, religion, nationality, or gender.

For more information, visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net

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