Abrams accuses – Stacey Abrams accused House Speaker Mike Johnson of celebrating “the return of Jim Crow to the South” after Johnson praised a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling that struck down Louisiana’s congressional map for violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Stacey Abrams said House Speaker Mike Johnson was celebrating “the return of Jim Crow to the South” after he praised a Supreme Court decision that found Louisiana’s congressional map violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Abrams made the accusation during an interview on Sunday. after the show aired a clip of Johnson telling Fox News earlier that day the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling was “long overdue” and that it was “bringing back fairness and certainty to the system.” Abrams pressed back hard on what she said Johnson meant by fairness.
“He’s saying it brings back 1964. 1963. 1892. ” Abrams said. arguing that “race neutral” laws made it harder for Black Americans to vote.. She pointed to “the race neutral laws that were in place prior to the Voting Rights Act. ” saying they allowed poll taxes and literacy taxes that diminished participation while remaining “race neutral.”
Abrams also argued Johnson should understand the implication given his background. “He’s from the South,” she said, “and should understand as well as anyone that this is bollocks, that this is hogwash.” She added that “They are very clear that race and partisanship sit side-by-side.”
Continuing, Abrams said the “remarkably racist behavior” blocked by the Voting Rights Act has now returned. “And so what he is celebrating is the return of Jim Crow to the South,” she said. “And that is a terrible thing for America.”
Her criticism landed amid mounting Democratic backlash to Republican redistricting wins backed by the Supreme Court’s recent decision.. Rep.. Ayanna Pressley. a Democrat from Massachusetts. accused members of President Donald Trump’s administration of preferring to see Black Americans “pick cotton” than pick the president during an appearance on Saturday.
Pressley’s comments came weeks after the Supreme Court voided Louisiana’s second majority Black congressional district. The court’s conservative-leaning justices concluded the state’s map relied too heavily on race.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the Louisiana district was a “snake” created along racial lines. Justice Samuel Alito agreed, writing the map was an “unconstitutional gerrymander.” After the ruling, Trump celebrated it, saying it was the “kind of ruling I like.”
The argument Democrats are making is tied directly to the legal framing in the decision and to the political language that followed: Johnson called the ruling “long overdue” and said it would restore “fairness and certainty. ” while Abrams said that same celebration amounts to bringing back the eras she associated with poll taxes and literacy taxes and “race neutral” barriers.
The dispute now sits at the center of a broader clash over what the Supreme Court’s ruling changes in voting rights enforcement. with Democrats pointing to the Voting Rights Act’s history and Republicans emphasizing the court’s finding that the Louisiana map violated the act.. Trump’s praise. Roberts’ “snake” remark. and Alito’s “unconstitutional gerrymander” language have all become focal points in how each side describes what “fairness” should look like in the South.
Stacey Abrams Mike Johnson Jim Crow Supreme Court Voting Rights Act Louisiana congressional map Ayanna Pressley Donald Trump redistricting gerrymandering