Callais and the Quiet Burial of the Voting Rights Act
1. Louisiana v. Callais, slip opinion, 608 U.S. ___ (Apr. 29, 2026), https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-109_21o3.pdf; SCOTUSblog case page, https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/louisiana-v-callais/; Amy Howe, “In major Voting Rights Act case, Supreme Court strikes down redistricting map challenged as racially discriminatory,” SCOTUSblog, April 29, 2026, https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/04/in-major-voting-rights-act-case-supreme-court-strikes-down-redistricting-map-challenged-as-racia/.
2. Richard L. Hasen, “Callais: SCOTUS’ Voting Rights Act ruling is the worst decision in a century,” Slate, April 29, 2026, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/04/scotus-voting-rights-section-two-ruling-history-worst-century.html.
3. Richard L. Hasen, “The Slaying of the Voting Rights Act by the Coward Samuel Alito,” Slate, April 30, 2026, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/04/supreme-court-analysis-coward-samuel-alito-callais.html. See also Mary Louise Kelly interview with Hasen, “After Supreme Court ruling, what’s the future of the Voting Rights Act?” NPR All Things Considered, April 29, 2026, https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5804515/after-supreme-court-ruling-whats-the-future-of-the-voting-rights-act; “‘If You Can Keep It’: The Supreme Court And The Voting Rights Act,” NPR 1A, May 4, 2026, https://www.npr.org/2026/05/04/nx-s1-5810197/if-you-can-keep-it-the-supreme-court-and-the-voting-rights-act.
4. Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 U.S.C. § 10301 et seq.; National Archives Milestone Documents, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rights-act.
5. Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), Cornell LII, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/12-96; Justia, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/570/529/.
6. Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30 (1986), Cornell LII, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/478/30; Justia, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/478/30/.
7. Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55 (1980), Cornell LII, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/446/55; Justia, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/446/55/.
8. Rucho v. Common Cause, 588 U.S. ___ (2019), Justia, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/588/18-422/.
9. Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), Cornell LII, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/20-1199; Justia, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/600/20-1199/.
10. Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 (1883), Cornell LII, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/109/3; Justia, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/109/3/.
11. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), Cornell LII, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/163/537.
12. C. Vann Woodward, Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction (Boston: Little, Brown, 1951; rev. ed., New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), ISBN 9780195064230. See also Joseph Crespino, In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), ISBN 9780691122090, on the longer arc of southern political accommodation and its national consequences.
13. Edward E. Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (New York: Basic Books, 2014), ISBN 9780465049660. The $3.5 billion 1860 valuation and its share of GDP are widely documented in the slavery-and-capitalism literature, including Baptist.
14. District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act of April 16, 1862, National Archives Featured Document, https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/dc-emancipation-act; primary text and commission records, U.S. Senate, https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/civil_war/DCEmancipationAct_FeaturedDoc.htm.
15. Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (New York: Liveright / W. W. Norton, 2017), ISBN 978-1-63149-285-3, ch. 4 on FHA underwriting.
16. Ira Katznelson, When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005), ISBN 978-0-393-05213-8.
17. Aditya Aladangady, Andrew C. Chang, and Jacob Krimmel, “Greater Wealth, Greater Uncertainty: Changes in Racial Inequality in the Survey of Consumer Finances,” FEDS Notes, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, October 18, 2023, https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/greater-wealth-greater-uncertainty-changes-in-racial-inequality-in-the-survey-of-consumer-finances-20231018.html.
18. H.R. 40, Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, first introduced in the 101st Congress (1989) by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), reintroduced in every Congress since; bill history, https://www.congress.gov/.
19. Executive Order 14151, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” 90 Fed. Reg. 8339 (Jan. 29, 2025), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/29/2025-01953/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing.
20. Executive Order 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” 90 Fed. Reg. 8633 (Jan. 31, 2025), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/31/2025-02097/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity.
21. Executive Order 14160, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” January 20, 2025, American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-14160-protecting-the-meaning-and-value-american-citizenship.
22. Executive Order 14281, “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” 90 Fed. Reg. 17537 (Apr. 28, 2025), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/28/2025-07378/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy.
23. Memorandum from Attorney General Pam Bondi to All Department of Justice Employees, “Ending Illegal DEI and DEIA Discrimination and Preferences,” February 5, 2025, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1388501/dl?inline=.
24. Memorandum from Charles Ezell, Acting Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, to Heads and Acting Heads of Departments and Agencies, “Initial Guidance Regarding DEIA Executive Orders,” January 21, 2025, https://www.opm.gov/media/e1zj1p0m/opm-memo-re-initial-guidance-regarding-deia-executive-orders-1-21-2025-final.pdf.
25. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Department of Justice Terminates Environmental Justice Settlement Agreement, Advancing President Trump’s Mandate to End Illegal DEI and Environmental Justice Policies,” April 11, 2025, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-terminates-environmental-justice-settlement-agreement-advancing-president.
26. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Revisions,” Interim Final Rule, 90 Fed. Reg. 11006 (Mar. 3, 2025), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/03/03/2025-03360/affirmatively-furthering-fair-housing-revisions.
27. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “HUD’s Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard,” Proposed Rule, 91 Fed. Reg. 1700 (Jan. 14, 2026), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/14/2026-00590/huds-implementation-of-the-fair-housing-acts-disparate-impact-standard.
28. National Fair Housing Alliance, “House Appropriations Committee’s Cuts to Fair Housing Funding Leaves Disabled Veterans, Seniors, and Others Unprotected from Housing Discrimination,” https://nationalfairhousing.org/house-appropriations-committees-cuts-to-fair-housing-funding-leaves-disabled-veterans-seniors-and-others-unprotected-from-housing-discrimination/.
29. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, “Community Reinvestment Act Regulations,” Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 90 Fed. Reg. 33902 (July 18, 2025), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/18/2025-13559/community-reinvestment-act-regulations; OCC Bulletin 2025-18, https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/bulletins/2025/bulletin-2025-18.html.
30. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Termination of the Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status,” 90 Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/11/28/2025-21379/termination-of-the-designation-of-haiti-for-temporary-protected-status.
31. Polo Rocha, “How Trump is turning fair-lending law on its head,” American Banker, March 18, 2026, https://www.americanbanker.com/news/how-trump-is-turning-fair-lending-law-on-its-head.
32. Polo Rocha, “CFPB finalizes new ECOA rule in major fair-lending pivot,” American Banker, April 22, 2026, https://www.americanbanker.com/news/cfpb-finalizes-new-ecoa-rule-in-major-fair-lending-pivot.
33. Evan Weinberger, “US Fair-Lending Enforcement Curbed Under Trump, CFPB’s Final Rule,” Bloomberg Law, January 14, 2026, https://news.bloomberglaw.com/banking-law/us-fair-lending-enforcement-curbed-under-trump-cfpbs-final-rule.
34. Civil Rights Act of 1866, U.S. House of Representatives History, Art & Archives, “The Civil Rights Bill of 1866,” https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-Civil-Rights-Bill-of-1866/.
