House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the Supreme Court of unleashing the “ghosts of the Confederacy” after a series of court rulings weakened race-based congressional maps that helped protect Democratic seats across the South.
“The ghosts of the Confederacy has afflicted the United States Supreme Court majority and is invading and haunting the nation right now,” Jeffries declared during remarks attacking the high court.
The comments landed as Democrats face a rapidly deteriorating redistricting landscape that threatens the party’s path back to a House majority before 2028.
Recent court rulings have opened the door for Republican-led states to aggressively redraw congressional maps, potentially eliminating several Democratic-held districts in the South.
The ghosts of the confederacy have afflicted the Supreme Court.
And are haunting the nation.
Shameful. pic.twitter.com/b9NwPPlWWc
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) May 14, 2026
Jeffries framed the rulings as an assault on black political representation and compared the decisions to a return of “Jim Crow.”
But Republicans argued the courts merely ended a system that relied too heavily on race in congressional map design.
The battle exploded after the Supreme Court reinterpreted parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, weakening requirements that states preserve certain majority-minority districts.
The decision immediately triggered a wave of redistricting efforts across Republican-controlled Southern states.
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Louisiana Republicans moved Thursday toward approving a new congressional map that would eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held majority-black districts.
The Republican-controlled Louisiana Senate passed the proposal 27-10 along party lines.
The map would likely leave Democrats with just one competitive district statewide while Republicans would be positioned to win five of Louisiana’s six congressional seats.
Democratic lawmakers and voting-rights activists blasted the proposal as an effort to dilute black voting power.
“This Senate should seek to support a map that gives everyone a voice,” Democratic state Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews argued during floor debate.
Republicans countered that the map was designed around partisan advantage rather than race.
The current Louisiana map had centered heavily on majority-black districts in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
Under the proposed redraw, the remaining Democratic district would connect both cities and could potentially force Democratic Reps. Troy Carter and Cleo Fields into a primary battle against one another.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry had already suspended the state’s congressional primary elections following the Supreme Court ruling.
The legal and political turmoil has intensified nationwide as Republicans attempt to capitalize on the court’s decision.
In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster called a special legislative session to consider redrawing congressional lines in a move that could eliminate longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn’s district.
Clyburn, one of the most influential black Democrats in Congress, has represented the district since 1993.
McMaster’s reversal came only days after five Republican state senators joined Democrats to block an earlier attempt to extend the legislative session for redistricting.
Unlike the failed proposal, new maps would only require a simple majority vote in the Republican-controlled legislature.
South Carolina House Republicans already advanced a plan that would split up Clyburn’s district while postponing June primary elections until August.
Republicans currently control the state’s other six congressional districts. Georgia Republicans also entered the redistricting fight this week.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced a special legislative session beginning June 17 to redraw congressional and legislative districts before the 2028 elections.
Republicans believe new maps in Georgia could potentially create two additional GOP-friendly congressional districts while further strengthening Republican power in the state legislature.
Georgia’s Freedom Caucus celebrated the announcement online.
“We must not let this opportunity go to waste,” the group posted. “The time is NOW to end racial gerrymandering and provide Georgians with fair electoral maps.”
Democrats reacted furiously. “We just learned that Georgia is moving forward with gerrymandering for 2028,” Sen. Raphael Warnock tweeted on X.
We just learned that Georgia is moving forward with gerrymandering for 2028.
There is an extreme movement in this country that will stop at nothing to hold on to power, even if it means stripping representation away from millions.
I will fight this with everything I have.
— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) May 13, 2026
“There is an extreme movement in this country that will stop at nothing to hold on to power, even if it means stripping representation away from millions.”
Georgia Democrats accused Republicans of targeting black voters and attempting to cement long-term political control.
The new Southern redistricting push has dramatically altered the national political map ahead of the next election cycle.
Republicans in Florida and Tennessee have already approved new district lines. Alabama and Louisiana are expected to follow with additional changes.
The Missouri Supreme Court this week upheld another set of congressional maps expected to benefit Republicans.
The mounting setbacks appear to have triggered a major strategic shift among national Democrats.
According to POLITICO, House Democrats are increasingly abandoning years of “good government” rhetoric supporting independent commissions and nonpartisan map-drawing.
Instead, party leaders are openly discussing aggressive counter-redistricting efforts in Democratic-controlled states including New York, Maryland, Colorado and Washington.
Jeffries himself appeared to hint at broader retaliation efforts while speaking Wednesday.
The Democratic leader vowed a “decisive and overwhelming response” before the 2028 elections and argued Democrats would ensure voters, not Republicans, ultimately determine control of Congress and the White House.
“We cannot exist in an environment where Republicans are free to gerrymander congressional districts out of existence without an expectation that Democrats are going to respond immediately and forcefully,” Jeffries remarked.
“The days of Democrats unilaterally disarming are over, particularly given how high the stakes are,” he told CNN.
Excuse me? The Confederacy were southern dems who thought they had the right be keep humans as slaves. Is he really that ignorant on American history?