Justice Kagan warns Supreme Court rulings fueling polarization, undermining democracy

Justice Elena Kagan says decisions by her conservative Supreme Court colleagues have increased political polarization and weakened democracy in the U.S. She spoke Tuesday, two weeks before the midterm elections, criticizing rulings that weakened the Vo...

WASHINGTON -- Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday said voting and elections decisions from her conservative Supreme Court colleagues have helped make the country more politically polarized and less democratic.

In a speech two weeks before the pivotal midterm elections for control of Congress, the liberal-leaning justice sharply criticized how the majority’s rulings have affected the nation’s political environment.

“The court has kind of blinded itself to the very deleterious effect of their rulings on how the political system works and has created a democracy that does not work as well as it should,” she said during a talk before students and professors at Catholic University's law school in Washington, D.C.

She blasted rulings that weakened the Voting Rights Act and campaign finance regulations while opening the door for more partisan gerrymandering. She dissented from those decisions.

“Over the last couple of years especially, both political parties have been engaged in a race to the bottom in terms of doing these partisan gerrymanders, … making what I think is unfortunately a too polarized country even more so,” she said. “The people of America look around and think that all this money chasing all these political candidates is a nightmare, and they're right.”

The court’s majority, for its part, said in a 2019 ruling that courts drawing voting districts for maximum advantage is a political dispute and federal courts can’t step in. Conservatives have separately ruled that key campaign finance regulations violate the freedom of speech. This year, the court further narrowed protections in the Voting Rights Act, which had helped increase minority representation.

That helped feed a redistricting frenzy touched off by President Donald Trump, who is trying to hold on to the Republicans' slim House majorities in the November election.

Still, Kagan said it's unfair to say the majority reflexively supports the president. She pointed to key areas where the court has pushed back against Trump, including tariffs, birthright citizenship and mail ballots.