RESPONSE TO SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

June 9, 2023

The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) just issued two important rulings that uphold the Voting Rights Act and the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act.

In the voting rights act case, SCOTUS ruled that Alabama’s 2021 congressional map violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it unfairly diluted Black political power. The ruling means that Alabama must redraw its congressional map. This is a huge win for Black voters in Alabama.

In the nursing home case, the Supreme Court sided with a man with dementia who was receiving care from a nursing facility that mistreated him by chemically restraining him. The court affirmed that the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act was intended to protect individuals in nursing facilities from abuse and that individuals can use the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act to sue when they are mistreated.

The protections the Supreme Court upheld were won because generations of advocates refused to be silenced. While the fight is far from over, the Mental Health Empowerment Project will continue to facilitate access to voting and expand access to community-based services and end the dehumanizing treatment of people in nursing facilities, psychiatric hospitals and other institutional settings.