For Immediate Release: April 29, 2026
Contact: media@colorofchange.org

Washington, DC – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court weakened protections under the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights law that has served as the primary legal barrier against discriminatory voting practices for six decades.

In response, President and CEO of Color of Change Nadine Smith says:

“The Voting Rights Act has been gutted. Today’s ruling is the latest attack by the Supreme Court on the most basic pillars of democracy. The Act exists because of the long and documented history of states using violence, intimidation, and the passage of laws that served one purpose: to stop Black people from casting a ballot. Stripping these hard-won protections is an open invitation to states already pushing the limits of voter suppression. The consequence will be devastating: Black Americans will lose seats in Congress that took generations to win. We have seen this before. After Reconstruction, it took 100 years to get that representation back. The impact of this ruling will show up in every election moving forward, and this is a decision that can eliminate Black representation and take our country back centuries, even if we do not see its immediate impact in the 2026 midterm elections. The Court has now confirmed that rights generations bled for can be stripped away. But rights are defended by organized people, not passive hope. Color Of Change has never waited for courts to protect our people, and we are not starting now. We will be organizing in every state where this ruling gets used as a weapon, and we will not stop until Black voters can cast a ballot in a system that is not rigged to deny us representation.”