Booker Calls SCOTUS
‘Profoundly Hypocritical.’
His Party Drew the Maps First.
On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court handed down Louisiana v. Callais — a 6-3 ruling that gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, making it dramatically harder to challenge majority-minority district requirements as racial gerrymanders. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) went on television, flew to Birmingham, and called the Court “corrupt,” “profoundly hypocritical,” and responsible for sending America “backwards in time.”
That speech had a problem. In 2022, courts struck down Democratic gerrymanders in New York and Maryland as unconstitutional — maps Booker's party drew specifically to maximize Democratic seat counts. Booker was silent. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is now publicly pressuring Illinois and Maryland to re-gerrymander in 2026. Booker says nothing. The Voting Rights Act is sacred — unless Democrats are using it to erase Republican districts.
The word Booker chose for the Supreme Court was “hypocritical.” It fits. It just fits the wrong party.
- 6–3SCOTUS vote, CallaisLouisiana v. Callais (April 29, 2026) — Justice Alito majority; Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson dissented. Section 2 of the VRA now 'all but a dead letter' per Kagan's dissent.
- 2022NY + MD maps struck downNew York Court of Appeals and Maryland Circuit Court both struck down Democrat-drawn congressional maps as unconstitutional gerrymanders — while Booker made no public criticism of his party's mapmakers.
- 7–6NJ map vote, 2021The New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission approved a Democrat-favored map on a 7-6 party-line vote, with a Democratic-aligned tiebreaker. Booker did not condemn it.
- +14R seat projectionCook Political Report's post-Callais projection: Republicans could net up to 14 House seats from mid-decade redistricting. Current House: 218R–214D.
Louisiana v. Callais, decided April 29, 2026, was nominally about Louisiana's congressional map. After years of litigation under the Voting Rights Act — and two lower courts ruling that the state's original single majority-Black district likely diluted Black voting power — Louisiana drew a second majority-Black district in 2024. A separate group of “non-African American” voters then challenged that map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Equal Protection Clause.
The Supreme Court agreed, 6-3. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, struck down the map and substantially reworked the 40-year-old Thornburg v. Gingles framework that had governed Section 2 VRA claims since 1986. The practical effect: the standard for challenging a racial gerrymander just got much easier to meet for challengers, while the standard for defending a majority-minority district just got much harder.
Gingles framework reworked. The 40-year three-part Gingles test for Section 2 VRA claims was substantially modified. Illustrative (sample) maps submitted by plaintiffs must now satisfy allof a jurisdiction's stated political objectives — a standard that did not exist before April 29.
Intent requirement. In the “totality of circumstances” phase of a VRA claim, courts must now require plaintiffs to present strong evidence of “present-day intentional racial discrimination regarding voting” — an intent standard that was explicitly not required under prior VRA doctrine.
Race cannot be the primary factor.States drawing districts where race is the predominant factor face a racial-gerrymander challenge — even if the map was ostensibly drawn to comply with the VRA. Louisiana's second majority-Black district was struck down on exactly this basis.
Kagan's dissent:“Today's decision renders Section 2 all but a dead letter.” Justices Sotomayor and Jackson joined. Kagan rejected Alito's description of the changes as mere “updates,” arguing the majority had “eviscerate[d] the law, so that it will not remedy even” classic cases of vote dilution.
Within days, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas had moved or announced plans to redraw congressional maps eliminating majority-minority districts that had previously been protected. Cook Political Report projected Republicans could net up to 14 House seats from the combined effect of Callais and mid-decade redistricting. Current House: 218R–214D.
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) did not wait long. The day after the ruling, he issued a formal press statement and went on MSNBC's Morning Joe. He declared the midterms a “movement election.” Over the following ten days, he flew to Birmingham to headline a voting-rights town hall, gave a national television interview on Meet the Press, and called for Supreme Court reform. The rhetoric escalated with each appearance.
“This is now a movement election.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) · Morning Joe, MSNBC · April 30, 2026 · in response to Louisiana v. Callais · per Booker Senate.gov press release
By May 10, Booker had escalated further. On Meet the Presswith Kristen Welker, he called the Supreme Court “corrupt” and accused the conservative majority of a structural double standard.
“So first of all, this court is profoundly hypocritical. This Supreme Court desperately needs reform. It is a corrupt court.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) · NBC Meet the Press · May 10, 2026 · per NBC News transcript
Booker told Welker the ruling had sent the country “backwards in time, back to the 1870s and ‘80s, where the South and southern legislators, through terrorism, intimidation and worse were able to stop African-Americans from having representation in Congress.”
He also issued a formal written statement framing the ruling in even starker terms: “The Court today ensures that it will be remembered as one of the most destructive and deeply irresponsible Courts in the history of our nation. This isn't about left or right. It's not about Democrats or Republicans. It's about fair elections in America.”
What the Supreme Court has now done is eviscerate the Voting Rights Act. We're already seeing Southern states openly discuss eliminating Black representation — drawing districts that disenfranchise African American voters. This is now a movement election. #VRA #VotingRights #LouisianvCallais
On May 4–5, Booker flew to Birmingham, Alabama — appearing at a town hall at Boutwell Auditorium alongside Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL-7), former U.S. Senator Doug Jones, and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin. The event drew a multigenerational crowd, organized in direct response to the Alabama Legislature's special session to undo the majority-Black 7th congressional district that the VRA had previously required.
Speaking to the crowd, Booker positioned himself in the tradition of civil rights foot soldiers: “The Supreme Court has never led history in this country. It has always been the foot soldiers of democracy, like those in this room.”
Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R) had a pointed response when asked about Booker's visit on Fox News Digital: “That's probably the first time Cory Booker's ever been in Alabama.” Ledbetter added: “the people that we represent have lived here most of all of their lives, and they're the ones that ask us to do something for them — not the Cory Bookers.”
The argument Booker is making — that drawing congressional maps primarily around race distorts democracy and robs voters of fair representation — is correct. It was also correct in 2022, when courts struck down Democratic gerrymanders in two of the country's most populous states. Booker was silent both times.
New York, 2022.The New York Legislature, controlled by Democrats, drew a congressional map that concentrated Republican voters to maximize Democratic House seats. New York's Court of Appeals — the state's highest court — struck it down as an unconstitutional gerrymander, citing the 2014 state constitutional amendment New York voters had passed specifically to prevent legislative mapmaking abuse. A court-appointed master drew replacement maps. The party that championed redistricting reform when it passed the 2014 amendment had violated it in the first cycle they got to use it.
Maryland, 2022.Maryland's Democratic-controlled General Assembly drew a congressional map designed to guarantee Democrats at least 7 of the state's 8 House seats. Circuit Court Judge Lynne A. Battaglia ruled the map had “constitutional failings” — describing it as an extreme partisan gerrymander that violated the state constitution's compactness and community-preservation requirements. A state appeals court affirmed.
Cory Booker's public statements in response to either ruling: none on record. His Senate.gov press archive shows no press release, floor statement, or formal condemnation of either Democratic gerrymander from 2021 through the time of the rulings.
The New Jersey map Booker did not criticize tells a similar story. In December 2021, the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission approved a Democrat-favored map 7-6 — with all six Democratic members and the Democratic-aligned tiebreaker, former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, voting in favor. The New Jersey Supreme Court dismissed a Republican challenge in February 2022. Booker issued no statement criticizing the process.
Said (April 30, 2026):“What the Supreme Court has now done is eviscerate the Voting Rights Act. We're already seeing Southern states openly discuss eliminating Black representation — drawing districts that disenfranchise African American voters.” [Booker.senate.gov press release, per ICYMI post]
Said (May 10, 2026):“This isn't about left or right. It's not about Democrats or Republicans. It's about fair elections in America.” [NBC Meet the Press transcript]
Did not say (April 2022):Any public statement criticizing the New York Court of Appeals ruling that struck down Democrats' unconstitutional gerrymander — a ruling that also protected minority voters in Staten Island whose districts had been deliberately manipulated.
Did not say (2022):Any public statement criticizing Maryland's Democratic Legislature for drawing a map a court described as an “extreme gerrymander” — a map that would have collapsed the state's lone Republican district.
Did not say (December 2021):Any public statement criticizing New Jersey's Democratic-aligned Redistricting Commission for approving a partisan map on a 7-6 vote that locked in Democratic congressional advantages in his home state.
Did not say (February 2026 – present): Any public criticism of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for publicly pressuring Maryland and Illinois to draw new gerrymanders that would consolidate Democratic House seats — one of which Maryland courts had already struck down once as unconstitutional.
While Booker toured Birmingham and accused Republicans of rigging elections through redistricting, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was publicly pressuring Democratic state legislatures to do exactly that — on the other side.
Jeffries traveled to Maryland in February 2026 to personally lobby state Senate President Bill Ferguson to draw a new congressional map that would eliminate the state's last remaining Republican House seat. This is the same state whose previous Democratic gerrymander was struck down by a court as an “extreme gerrymander” in 2022. Jeffries also pushed Illinois Democrats to redraw their already-favorable 14-3 congressional map for even more Democratic seats.
“We are not going to let Republicans successfully rig the midterm elections.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · on the Democratic redistricting counter-push · per NBC News
Jeffries called Republican redistricting “rigging.” He was simultaneously lobbying for Democratic redistricting. Booker, the senator who declared this “about fair elections in America — not about left or right” — has made no public criticism of Jeffries' counter-gerrymander campaign.
Democrats will go all in on redistricting for 2028. Republicans can gerrymander — so can we. The people deserve fair representation. We're going to fight for every seat. #Redistricting #2028
In the aftermath of Callais, the Trump DOJ's Civil Rights Division moved to extend the ruling's logic to Democratic gerrymanders in blue states. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced that states that had used race as a predominant factor in drawing their maps — regardless of which party drew them — would face federal enforcement scrutiny.
Dhillon (DOJ Civil Rights Division):“This is the law of the land now, and eventually every jurisdiction in the United States is going to have to comply with race-free line-drawing.”
On California and New York specifically:“There will be consequences” for California and New York, which are already “gerrymandered to the hilt.”
States named as targets: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Virginia — the same states where Democrats drew maps now under challenge under the new Callais standard.
If the Voting Rights Act is the sword that cuts racial gerrymandering, it now cuts in every direction. Booker's party spent a decade using VRA-adjacent arguments to justify drawing majority-minority districts. The same legal framework is now being applied to Democratic-drawn maps in blue states, where race was also used as a primary factor. Booker has not addressed this symmetry.
President Trump was characteristically direct. After the Virginia Supreme Court separately struck down a Democrat-drawn redistricting referendum on May 8 — delivering a second redistricting blow to Democrats in one week — Trump posted to Truth Social.
The Virginia Supreme Court has just struck down the Democrats' horrible gerrymander. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! This is a HUGE WIN for the Republican Party and for all of the people of Virginia who want FAIR elections, not RIGGED ones.
Trump also called on Republican-controlled state legislatures to move immediately to redraw maps under the new Callais standard: “Republicans should demand that State Legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done” — predicting the move would deliver Republicans “more than 20 House Seats.” Cook Political Report's current projection: R net +5 to +14.
NBC News posted Booker's full May 10 Meet the Pressinterview in which he called the Supreme Court “profoundly hypocritical” and demanded reform. The interview is the most detailed statement of his position to date.
Booker's Birmingham town hall — alongside Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL-7) and former Sen. Doug Jones — was covered by Alabama Reporter and BirminghamWatch. Sewell told the crowd the ruling “will pave the way for the largest reduction in Black representation in our history.” Both senators chose Birmingham's Boutwell Auditorium as a deliberate historical reference — the same venue used in the civil rights movement.
Booker is correct that the Callaisruling functionally weakens the legal tools minority voters have used to challenge discriminatory maps. That is a legitimate concern. It is documented by Justice Kagan's dissent and by civil rights litigators who have spent decades working under Section 2.
But Booker is not making a legal argument. He is making a political argument. He is claiming the moral high ground on redistricting for the Democratic Party — a party that spent 2021 and 2022 drawing some of the most aggressive partisan gerrymanders in the country, had two of them struck down by courts as unconstitutional, and is now under a DOJ warning that the rest may follow.
Booker chose the word “hypocritical” for the Supreme Court. The court made a legal ruling. Booker's party made political maps and called them civil rights protections. The VRA was invoked when Democrats needed it to defend majority-minority districts. The VRA went unmentioned when Democrats drew maps in Maryland and New York that courts found violated state constitutions. When those maps were struck down — protecting actual minority voters in those states — Booker said nothing.
The Voting Rights Act deserves better defenders than those who invoke it selectively based on which party's map is under scrutiny.
Alabama: Alabama Legislature in special session to undo the majority-Black 7th district (Rep. Terri Sewell's seat). AG Steve Marshall filed emergency SCOTUS application in Allen v. Singletonto vacate the lower court's injunction by May 14 — one day before the state's May 19 primary. Pending.
Louisiana: SCOTUS immediately finalized the Callais opinion on May 5 — Louisiana must submit a new map in time for the 2026 elections, undoing the majority-Black 6th district.
Tennessee:Five bills filed to split Rep. Steve Cohen's (D-TN-9) Memphis district into three Republican-majority seats.
Texas: Texas can consolidate minority populations to add an estimated 5 Republican seats. No special session announced yet.
Maryland (D):Democratic Legislature advancing a new map that would draw out the state's last Republican seat — despite a court striking down the previous such map in 2022.
Illinois (D): Jeffries pushing Illinois Democrats to re-draw their existing 14-3 Democratic map. Illinois Democrats cool on the idea; Black lawmakers concerned about dilution of historically Black districts.
DOJ watching:Dhillon's Civil Rights Division has identified 9 blue states for potential enforcement action if new maps use race as a primary factor.
Cory Booker (D-NJ) called the Supreme Court “profoundly hypocritical” for gutting the Voting Rights Act. He flew to Birmingham to invoke the civil rights movement. He declared the 2026 midterms “a movement election.” He said this was “not about Democrats or Republicans — it's about fair elections.” Meanwhile, his party drew unconstitutional gerrymanders in New York and Maryland in 2022 — both struck down by courts — and his House leader is right now lobbying those same states to re-gerrymander. Booker said nothing then. He says nothing now about Jeffries. The word for that is not “movement.” It is selective.