Sen. Warnock says voting rights decision "poured fuel on this redistricting arms race"

[0:00] Last week, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana congressional map [0:05] that had been gerrymandered to create a second-majority Black district. [0:09] The three liberal justices dissented, saying the ruling would, quote, [0:14] eviscerate a section of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, [0:18] while conservatives in the majority said the decision updated its legal framework. [0:24] Reverend Raphael Warnock, Democratic senator from the state of Georgia, [0:27] joins us this morning from Atlanta. Welcome back to the program. [0:33] Good morning. [0:34] So our CBS News legal analysts described this decision as narrowing the application of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. [0:43] Effectively, it means it's now going to be harder to bring any lawsuits claiming that gerrymandering discriminates along racial lines [0:50] unless there is proof of that intent. [0:54] Why do you call that a defeat for American democracy? [0:58] Margaret, let's be clear. [1:00] What happened this week is nothing less than a massive and devastating blow, [1:07] not only to our democracy, but particularly to people of color in the South. [1:14] This question about intent is, on its head, misleading, and it ignores our history. [1:21] We had 100 years after the 15th Amendment was passed, which on paper gave black people the right to vote, [1:29] but with supposedly or putatively race-neutral methods for 100 years, the right to vote was denied. [1:38] But in more recent history, the Supreme Court, this same conservative Supreme Court, [1:44] hobbled Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 with Shelby v. Holder. [1:50] Since then, we've seen the racial turnout gap get wider and wider, not smaller, [1:58] and it has grown twice as fast in the states that used to be under Section 5. [2:05] We will see a devastating impact as a result of this, and now more than ever, we've got to stand up and fight for our democracy. [2:13] But as you just said, the Voting Rights Act has been, you know, weighed by the court multiple times, including back in 2013. [2:20] But when it was originally written, there were things in place that don't exist now, right? [2:26] There was a poll tax in southern states. [2:30] The law required nine of those states to go get federal approval or preclearance before they changed their own voting rules. [2:38] Congress, in the 80s, updated this law. [2:43] Are you of the opinion that the law needs to stand as it was originally written, [2:48] or does Congress now need to do some work to update it? [2:52] Listen, I know that there are those who are tired of the remedy. [2:58] I'm tired of racism. [3:00] I think it's a strange position to be more concerned about the medicine than you are about the malady. [3:07] In that recent history, Roberts wrote in 2013, when they gutted Section 5, that this racial turnout gap had gone away. [3:20] And Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she said, look, getting rid of the protections of the voting rights law in this moment, [3:29] it's like getting rid of your umbrella in the midst of a rainstorm because you're not getting wet. [3:33] And since then, again, since then, everybody's entitled to their own opinions. [3:38] You're not entitled to your own facts. [3:40] Since then, the racial voter turnout has grown larger and twice as large in the states that were under Section 5. [3:50] And there's a reason for that, Margaret. [3:52] Since they removed the protections of Section 5, states that used to play old games, [3:58] they're playing new games, their 21st century Jim Crow tactics in new clothes, [4:05] moving voter polls, closing polls in black and brown communities. [4:10] The data shows that black and brown people spend much longer time in longer lines purging people, [4:17] people literally showing up and not knowing that their names have been purged from the rolls. [4:22] And the data shows that this disproportionately impacts black and brown citizens. [4:28] And now, as a result of the decision this week, they're saying that even when you show up, [4:34] we have given the green light so that politicians can play games with the lines, [4:39] so that even when you overcome those barriers and show up, your voices will be muted. [4:44] So it sounds like you want to go back to the letter of the law from 1965. [4:48] You want Congress to, once again, reinstitute preclearance for these southern states. [4:54] That's what I just heard you lay out. [4:56] Yeah, that was, absolutely. [4:59] Absolutely. [5:00] So when I want to point something out to you, which is that the current Congress, statistically, [5:07] in 2025, has a record high number, 66 black members, according to Pew Research, [5:14] including five Republicans, that's the most to ever serve in Congress. [5:19] People will look at that and say, we are in a different country than we were, [5:24] as Roberts once argued, as you just pointed out. [5:28] Now that we are in this redistricting arms race that both parties are playing with here, [5:33] do you think that will hurt black representation? [5:35] I think that the court, sadly, poured fuel on this redistricting arms race. [5:45] To be clear, you support redistricting that your party is carrying out? [5:50] I do, because Donald Trump, who is better at dividing us than anybody I know, [5:58] instituted an arms race in redistricting. [6:01] But I actually hate partisan gerrymandering. [6:04] I don't like gerrymandering. [6:06] But we could not unilaterally disarm. [6:08] He's the one who called Texas and said, literally, give me six more seats. [6:12] And so California and other states had to respond, Virginia, in kind. [6:17] But the solution to this, really, is to ban partisan gerrymandering. [6:21] Gerrymandering turns our elections on its head, [6:24] so that rather than the people picking their politicians or their public servants, [6:30] the politicians are picking their voters. [6:32] Right, exactly, which is why I'm asking you how you could support it. [6:36] But I understand you're saying the context of the moment is an emergency. [6:40] Let me ask you. [6:41] Well, we could. [6:42] I have a bill, though, Margaret. [6:43] I have a bill. [6:44] I saw that bill, yes. [6:45] Right now that would get rid of partisan gerrymandering. [6:48] And so far, I've had no Republican takers. [6:51] Well, as we just said, your party is supporting the partisan redistricting [6:55] in places like California and Virginia as well. [6:58] Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida said, [7:01] Democrats do not care about black representation. [7:03] They only care about Democrat representation. [7:06] Here's what Congressman Wesley Hunt of Texas said [7:09] when he was asked about the decision of the four black Republicans to leave Congress. [7:14] I represent a white majority district that President Trump would have won [7:20] by over 20 points, and I won by 25 points the last time I ran. [7:24] I'm being judged not by the color of my skin, but by the content of my character. [7:27] I don't care how many black people are here. [7:29] I want the most qualified people that are here. [7:31] So what do you make of the argument that you just heard there from Congressman Hunt? [7:38] Yeah, he doesn't understand American history. [7:41] No one, he's quoting the words of Dr. King. [7:44] No one was more committed to a country that embraces all of us than Dr. King. [7:52] But Dr. King, looking at that reality, is the one who is the moral power [7:57] behind the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [8:00] Our covenant as an American people is e pluribus unum, out of many, one. [8:06] And so this notion that representation does not matter, ignores history, it ignores the facts, [8:13] is uninformed. [8:15] Representation does matter. [8:17] When I go to the Senate every week, I bring my story and my experience as a black kid [8:23] who grew up in public housing in Savannah, and so does that white kid who grew up in Appalachia. [8:28] She brings her experience too. [8:29] And so when we create an increasing monolith, which is what I think is going to happen as [8:35] a result of this decision this week, we hurt the democracy itself, and we make it harder [8:41] to get at a policy, policies that embrace all of our children and give every child a chance. [8:48] Senator, we'll leave it there.