Obama slams Supreme Court redistricting ruling amid Virginia controversy

Former President Barack Obama was criticized for rebuking a new Supreme Court ruling against race-based redistricting in Louisiana, just days after he cut advertising in an effort to transform Virginia’s map into a landscape with a 10-1 Democratic advantage.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Louisiana’s 2024 redistricting that created a meandering district represented by Rep. Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge, calling it an “illegal” racial gerrymander; Obama argued that the decision weakened the Voting Rights Act provision that prohibits race-based discrimination.

“Today’s Supreme Court decision effectively eliminates a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, giving state legislatures free rein to use legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities — so long as they do so under the guise of ‘partisanship’ rather than overt ‘racial bias,'” Obama said. he said.

“Unless it’s Virginia. In which case, having a 10-to-1 gerrymander is great,” Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said in a post about X.

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Fleischer was joined by former North Carolina Congressman and former Trump aide Mark Meadows, who said his rebuke to Obama was “beneath you.”

Former DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin also weighed in, noting that, according to the former president, “disenfranchising millions of voters and forcing 45% of Virginians to be represented by one congressional district and 55% by 10 people now means ‘Defending Democracy.'”

“Is this ‘equality’? What nonsense.”

Obama criticized the Supreme Court’s current makeup and conservative majority, saying their decision in the case was another example of “abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against overreach by the majority.”

Other critics noted that Obama remained silent on the gerrymandered map of his home state, which features zigzagging districts connecting different neighborhoods and suburbs of Chicago, while other Democratic strongholds created meandering districts in the interior of the state to connect cities such as Champaign, Springfield and Moline to other Democratic districts.

The Virginia redistricting map was narrowly approved by voters over the weekend in a special election that the Virginia Supreme Court allowed to be held amid a legal fight over redistricting in the middle of the decade. (Virginia Legislative Information System)

Other critics noted how Democrats controlled entire congressional districts in New England and Hawaii; They cited figures indicating that all of these states have between 32% and 48% Republican populations, but none of those voters have similar views in Washington.

The 44th president added that such disruptions can be overcome and called on Americans who respect “democratic ideals” to vote in record numbers to outweigh the election changes the court ruling could lead to.

In his own reading of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Justice Sam Alito said: “Properly understood, [it] “It does not impose unconstitutional liability, and it should not have imposed liability on Louisiana for the 2022 map.”

Just a few days ago, Obama was front and center in the largely Democratic-led “Vote Yes” campaign in Virginia; where the state’s Democratic legislative majority and Gov. Abigail Spanberger had supported a voter referendum to implement their own mid-decade redistricting that would favor their party for at least the next four years.

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The approved map would likely turn Virginia’s 6-5 Democratic congressional majority into a 10-1 split by redrawing rural districts to include Washington, D.C., the suburbs, or the Richmond-Petersburg metropolitan area; Advocates like Obama said this was necessary to restore justice at the national level.

“By voting yes, you have a chance to do something important, not just for the state, but for our entire country. By voting yes, you can push back against Republicans who are trying to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterm elections.”

Obama claimed in a pro-Yes ad that supporters could “level the playing field.”

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Then-Louisiana State Senator Cleo Fields speaks during the swearing-in ceremony of the state Legislature on Jan. 8, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. (Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)

Although it was largely a Democratic concern, and newly elected districts in Louisiana and Alabama favored Democrats, Virginia’s “yes” campaign received support from a handful of non-Democrats, such as anti-Trump former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.

Like Louisiana’s map, Virginia’s plan has been the subject of dueling lawsuits, including a recent move by a circuit judge in Tazewell County in the western mountains to suspend certification of “Yes” votes; The state Supreme Court is considering a case regarding the legislative process and legitimacy of the referendum.

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Fields said in a statement that Wednesday’s high court decision “dissolves” decades of settled law and is not a “neutral reading” of the Voting Rights Act.

“Today’s majority has resurrected exactly that standard — and the practical effect has been to make it much harder for minority communities to challenge redistricting maps that weaken their political voice,” Fields said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Obama for comment on the criticism.

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.