On May 23, 2024, the US Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision permitting racial discrimination in the drawing of voting maps, disregarding the voices of Black voters challenging racial gerrymandering and weakening efforts to build a multiracial democracy in the United States.
This ruling conflicts with international human rights treaties binding on the United States, which mandate protecting the right to vote without discrimination and prohibiting policies that have a discriminatory effect based on race, regardless of intent.
The Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that found South Carolina Republican state legislators discriminated against Black voters when drawing recent congressional maps. The lower court had determined that the South Carolina map violated the right to equal protection of the law under the US Constitution.
When the South Carolina legislature redrew Congressional District 1 in 2021, it removed hundreds of thousands of residents from the district, including over 60 percent of Black residents in Charleston County.
