--- title: The Right to Vote Is on Trial at the Supreme Court description: "We are on the verge of becoming a country where the right to vote exists only on paper," writes Tom Lopach. canonical: https://time.com/7326335/right-to-vote-supreme-court/ author: Tom Lopach article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-17T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:12:11.953Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Right to Vote Is on Trial at the Supreme Court og:description: "We are on the verge of becoming a country where the right to vote exists only on paper," writes Tom Lopach. og:url: https://time.com/7326335/right-to-vote-supreme-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb27ae0b1f717a3b/6998cacf83ec371e71c7b098/Supreme-Court-Voting-Rights.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Supreme Court Weighs Ending Raced-Based Voting Districts As Election Looms og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Right to Vote Is on Trial at the Supreme Court twitter:description: "We are on the verge of becoming a country where the right to vote exists only on paper," writes Tom Lopach. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb27ae0b1f717a3b/6998cacf83ec371e71c7b098/Supreme-Court-Voting-Rights.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEAS Time ideas # The Right to Vote Is on Trial at the Supreme Court > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=8dc77e50-b69e-48a4-99b7-3327cf193f16&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Supreme Court Appears Inclined to Limit Race-Based Electoral Districts Under the Voting Rights Act [Watch (HLS stream): Supreme Court Appears Inclined to Limit Race-Based Electoral Districts Under the Voting Rights Act](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MAgZduU.m3u8) (2:37)  _Published 2025-10-15. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear new arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, which holds significant implications for the future of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The justices will decide whether Louisiana’s inclusion of another majority-Black congressional district “violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution.”_ by [Tom Lopach](https://time.com/author/tom-lopach/) ## Tom Lopach Tom Lopach is the president and CEO of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information. Oct 17, 2025 11:00 AM UTC On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear new arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, which holds significant implications for the future of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The justices will decide whether Louisiana’s inclusion of another majority-Black congressional district “violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution.” by [Tom Lopach](https://time.com/author/tom-lopach/) ## Tom Lopach Tom Lopach is the president and CEO of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information. Oct 17, 2025 11:00 AM UTC Once again, America must confront a fundamental question: Will we protect the right to vote for every American, or allow the Voting Rights Act to be weakened beyond recognition? This week, the Supreme Court revisited that question in _Louisiana v. Callais_; a case that could gut the Voting Rights Act and [make it harder](https://time.com/7325167/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-louisiana-callais/) for millions of Americans to be fairly represented. Every election cycle, we see how fragile access to the ballot can be. Voter Participation Center research from 2024 shows that participation among underrepresented voters is slipping—not because they’ve stopped caring, but because states keep putting up new barriers to vote. In 2022, voter turnout among people of color, young people, and unmarried women trailed older white voters [by 22%](https://www.voterparticipation.org/lake-research-partners-x-vpc-cvi-research-on-voter-participation-among-underrepresented-communities-in-2024/). This gap persisted in 2024 when Black voter turnout fell by nearly 240,000 votes. Unmarried women cast 723,000 fewer votes than in 2020\. Together, these groups and young voters cast over one million fewer ballots even as turnout among other voters rose by nearly 800,000. These citizens are not apathetic. They are teachers, caregivers, students, and first-time voters running into obstacles that make participating increasingly difficult: registration systems that don’t keep up when they move, deadlines that conflict with work or family schedules, polling places that are under-resourced or inaccessible, and districts drawn to dilute their voices. Each barrier sends the same message that voting is for some, not for all. Now the Supreme Court is weighing whether to remove one of the few tools left to fight those barriers. The case of _Louisiana v. Callais_ challenges a congressional map the state adopted last year to comply with the Voting Rights Act by creating two majority-Black districts out of six. A group of white voters has sued, claiming those districts discriminate against them. A ruling in their favor would gut Section 2; the last remaining shield against racial discrimination in voting. For over a decade, Section 2 has been the foundation of voting-rights enforcement. Weakening it would make it nearly impossible to challenge racially gerrymandered maps or unfair voting systems anywhere in the country. The consequences would reach far beyond Louisiana. A report by Fair Fight Action and the Black Voters Matter Fund warns that overturning [Section 2 could reduce representation](https://blackvotersmatterfund.org/19-new-gop-house-seats-supreme-court-case-could-gut-voting-rights-act-cement-one-party-control/) for communities of color across the South. The report warns that the Congressional Black Caucus could shrink by almost one-third and the Hispanic Caucus by about 10%. None of this is an accident. These are deliberate policy choices. States have also cut back mail-in and early voting, eliminated same-day registration, and even targeted the nonpartisan groups that help people navigate a maze of rules that change from state to state—even though these voting options have historically increased access to the ballot and made it easier for millions of eligible Americans to participate in our democracy. The consequences of this voter suppression go beyond who shows up on Election Day. When participation drops among people of color and young people, our electorate becomes less representative—and our government does too. The result is a political system increasingly skewed toward the interests of older, whiter voters, which in turn drives policies that do not reflect the needs of all Americans. And when the needs of the most marginalized communities are ignored, everyone loses. The cycle then repeats: fewer voters, less representative democracy, and a further erosion of trust in the institutions which govern us. As we head into the 2026 midterm elections, it’s important to remember that we are not powerless to change course. The same underrepresented voters that continue to be left out of the process have the numbers and the power to impact governing in America, if they are given a fair opportunity. But it will require treating voter access and participation as a national priority rather than an afterthought, or an electoral liability. We are on the verge of becoming a country where the right to vote exists only on paper. America must be a democracy where free and fair elections are cherished and a representative electorate is valued. Voting is not a privilege for states to restrict or manipulate. It is a fundamental civil right and one worth protecting. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors. ## Transcript It's not a showing of intentional discrimination. Why does it need to be? Or is your suggestion that the only thing that's worthy of remedying is the intentional discrimination by the state? I think what you heard and saw today in the courtroom was a bench that was fully aware of the difficulties that the states have been in under the court's voting precedents. If you know Louisiana's story, you know that for the past couple of years, we have been struggling to find a map. The congressional map that satisfies the court's precedents. It's been extremely difficult. We argued it once earlier this year. We're back here. And what I told the court at the podium is, look at the at the end of the day, we really need clarity. The states need clarity on how they're supposed to comply with the Voting Rights Act and with the Equal Protection Clause. I think at the end of the day, that's what we're hoping the court will give us. So we've said all along the court needs to clarify its precedent, and it needs to create a workable system for legislatures to be able to do their jobs and comply with the Constitution, and to draw maps that can have predictability and stability for our states in their congressional representation. That's not what's been happening with the the the jurisprudence in this area. And so whatever they do, we hope that it will result in better clarity and better instructions for legislatures. We feel confident that if the court relies on its precedent, if it continues to have a commitment to the 15th Amendment and to this project of multiracial democracy, that it will rule in our favor. There has been no change in conditions or the law since it decided Allen v Milligan a mere 28 months ago, where the court reaffirmed the constitutionality of section two. Where the court rejected many of the specious arguments that our opponents have asserted on this second argument of the case. And so we feel very confident that the law is absolutely on our side. And while we are fighting for the rights for black voters in Louisiana and across the country to have an equal opportunity to participate in our electoral process, that win is a win for democracy. It is a win for all Americans. It is a win for the rule of law. And that is why we fight, because we believe in the future of this country, and we believe that black people have a right to be part of it, and to self-determine who will represent them and to be part of the future of this country. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7326335/right-to-vote-supreme-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7326335/right-to-vote-supreme-court/"},"headline":"The Right to Vote Is on Trial at the Supreme Court","datePublished":"2025-10-17T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T08:12:11.953Z","description":"\"We are on the verge of becoming a country where the right to vote exists only on paper,\" writes Tom Lopach.","url":"https://time.com/7326335/right-to-vote-supreme-court/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb27ae0b1f717a3b/6998cacf83ec371e71c7b098/Supreme-Court-Voting-Rights.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tom Lopach","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tom-lopach/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb27ae0b1f717a3b/6998cacf83ec371e71c7b098/Supreme-Court-Voting-Rights.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Supreme Court Weighs Ending Raced-Based Voting Districts As Election Looms","caption":"Supreme Court Weighs Ending Raced-Based Voting Districts As Election Looms","creditText":"Eric Lee—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7326335/right-to-vote-supreme-court/","name":"The Right to Vote Is on Trial at the Supreme Court"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Supreme Court Appears Inclined to Limit Race-Based Electoral Districts Under the Voting Rights Act","description":"On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear new arguments in Louisiana v. 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