How SCOTUS Is Erasing Black Voters, and Abby Phillip on Jesse Jackson’s Legacy

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May 12, 2026

Guest

Abby Phillip

Guest

Lauren Groh-Wargo

Abby Phillip, CNN anchor and author, offers sharp political analysis and reflections on Jesse Jackson’s legacy. Lauren Groh-Wargo, Fair Fight CEO and voting-rights organizer, breaks down on-the-ground strategies to defend Black and multiracial power. They discuss the Supreme Court ruling’s impact, protecting local democracy, mobilizing voters, and lessons from movement-building.

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INSIGHT

Calais Turns Outcome Protections Into Permission For Racial Dilution

The Roberts Court's Calais decision shifts Section 2 from outcome-based protection to intent-focused tolerance, enabling partisan explanations to mask racial vote dilution.
Stacey Abrams warns this grants a "permission slip for racism," prompting immediate redistricting in Southern states like Tennessee.

ANECDOTE

Tennessee Field Hearing Destroyed The State's Only Black Voice

Stacey describes attending Tennessee hearings where legislators justified demolishing the state's only majority-Black district after the Calais ruling.
She testified and saw community members' testimony about losing the only district that let Black voters elect responsive representation.

INSIGHT

Race Neutrality Can Hide Racially Targeted Rules

Race-neutral laws can be weaponized to produce racist outcomes by ignoring historical context, a tactic used in Jim Crow and echoed today.
Abrams details literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses as race-neutral tools that targeted Black voters' specific conditions.

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This week, Stacey goes beyond the headlines about the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the Voting Rights Act and outlines why this step is so dangerous - not just for minority voters around the country - but for our democracy as a whole She’s joined by Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight, to discuss what people can still do at the local level and at the ballot box to save our elections and fight back against authoritarianism. Then, Stacey is joined by CNN host Abby Phillip, who talks about the importance of debate in our political culture and what current activists can learn from Jesse Jackson’s legacy of fighting for equality.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

Learn & Do More:

Be Curious: To learn more about the extraordinary legacy of Jesse Jackson, pick up Abby Phillips’ book, “A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power”.
Solve Problems: On Saturday, May 16th, a national mass rally will take place at the Alabama state capitol in Montgomery. Visit allroadsleadtothesouth.com to learn about how you can participate and stay updated on boycotts, events and other rapid response efforts. You can also follow @FairFightAction on Instagram to stay up to date on the evolving voting rights landscape and mobilization efforts in the South, including upcoming marches in Jackson, Mississippi and at state capitols in South Carolina and Louisiana.
Do Good: Medication abortion now accounts for more than two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S., and since Dobbs, mail access to the pill has been a lifeline for people in states where abortion is banned. As the Supreme Court case on this issue continues to unfold, and Republican attacks on abortion access escalate, consider donating to the National Network of Abortion Funds at https://abortionfunds.org/, and look for local organizations that support reproductive justice for ways to get involved.