The US was not a true democracy before the Voting Rights Act. Wednesday’s decision has essentially destroyed the law

Is America a democracy? The term implies an equality of rights and dignity among citizens, a collective and uniform right of individuals to participate in self-government and to shape the laws that rule them. In that sense, the answer is no: though it has been a republic since its founding, America has only rarely been a true democracy, one where all citizens have the full right to vote and to have that vote counted.

Moira Donegan, The supreme court’s voting rights decision is a death knell for American democracy