FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Shawna Bray
(410) 598-5388
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) today praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais. CEO Chairman Linda Chavez applauded the ruling, noting that it is consistent with the colorblind, merit-based positions for which CEO has long advocated.
In a majority opinion authored by Justice Alito, the Court held that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) “was designed to enforce the Constitution—not collide with it. Unfortunately, lower courts have sometimes applied this Court’s §2 precedents in a way that forces States to engage in the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids.”
Ms. Chavez issued the following statement: “The Voting Rights Act is perhaps the most effective civil rights law ever passed. But it was never meant to replace the history of egregious denial of the right to vote for African Americans with a regime of racially gerrymandering voting districts in order to secure a particular racial outcome in elections.”
The Court’s holding reinforces warnings CEO has issued for years regarding the misapplication of civil rights law.
As CEO’s longtime President and General Counsel Roger Clegg wrote in 2014, “construing Section 2 to allow liability when only a ‘disparate impact’ on the basis of race—with no evidence of underlying disparate treatment on the basis of race [runs afoul of our Constitutional protections].”
CEO General Counsel Shawna Bray noted Justice Alito’s opinion today articulated this fundamental principle, that “a law that seeks to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment by prohibiting mere disparate impact would fail to enforce a right that the Amendment secures.”
The Center for Equal Opportunity has been a leading voice for over three decades in the fight against racial preferences and for the principle of equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race or ethnicity. We look forward to the continued restoration of colorblind justice in our nation’s voting systems.
The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization that studies issues related to civil rights.
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Center for Equal Opportunity
1025 Thomas Jefferson St, NW, Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20007
(202) 886-2000
www.ceousa.org
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