United States of America - April 2026

On 29 April, the Supreme Court ruled that a congressional map designed to create a second majority-Black district in Louisiana constituted unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. The majority held that the state had relied too heavily on race in drawing district boundaries and that compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act did not justify such race-conscious redistricting under the Equal Protection Clause. Section 2 establishes the prohibition of racial discrimination in voting practices or procedures.  The decision substantially narrows how Section 2 can be applied. As a result, challenging redistricting decisions will now require plaintiffs to prove intentional racial discrimination, an extremely high burden. In dissent, the Court’s minority warned that the decision ‘renders Section 2 all but a dead letter,’ highlighting concerns about reduced protections for minority voters.

Sources: Supreme Court of the United States, The Guardian, ABC News, NPR, Governor of Louisiana

In March and April, media reported that the Trump administration had instructed the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Department of Homeland Security to drastically increase denaturalizations, or the process of revoking citizenship of naturalized citizens. US Citizenship and Immigration Services have been instructed to refer up to 200 cases every month to the DoJ, with staff reassigned for this purpose and regular prosecutors enlisted into the effort.  Reportedly, the DoJ had identified by 23 April 384 individuals whose citizenship it wants revoked, though it was unclear on what basis. While denaturalization is required to meet a high legal threshold, critics have expressed concerns that cases could be used to intimidate activists, given the directive’s overly broad nature.

Sources: NBC, NYT, The Guardian, Newsweek 

On 21 April, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced an indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a prominent civil rights organization, on fraud charges. The Department of Justice claimed that the SPLC’s practice of paying informants inside violent extremist organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, to track their activities amounted to fraud and money laundering. The SPLC had in the past collaborated with law enforcement by providing intelligence on violent groups, but the FBI had ended this practice in 2025, saying the SPLC defamed right-leaning groups. 

Sources: CNN, The Guardian, AP, Department of Justice,