One of the leftists on the U.S. Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, nominated by the equally leftist Barack Obama, has used the platform of a law-school speech to complain about how the majority of the court is being “destructive” to democracy by voting against her wishes.
“The court has kind of blinded itself to the very deleterious effects of their rulings on how the political system works,” Kagan complained. The court “has created a democracy that does not work as well as it should,” she added.
Kagan frequently is in the minority with Ketanji Jackon and Sonia Sotomayor in dissenting from the majority in decisions. One of those was Louisiana v. Callais, which involved a challenge to the state’s congressional districting.
The majority in that case ruled on when states can draw electoral districts that given special power to minority voters to elect their chosen candidate. The majority said those accommodations essentially are based on race, and not allowed.
Kagan demanded that allowing states to draw districts that don’t allow minorities to elect their preferred candidates is “very destructive of our democracy.”
NEW: Justice Elena Kagan tonight blasted the Supreme Court’s conservative majority for undermining democracy in various rulings that have turbocharged partisan redistricting, eviscerated the Voting Rights Act & eliminated campaign finance restrictions. https://t.co/xRKkpZVcNm
— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley) October 20, 2026
US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said the court’s conservative majority has undermined democracy and ‘created a race to the bottom’ in how congressional districts are drawn https://t.co/Ucyo48Ua8F
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 21, 2026
US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan accused the court’s conservative supermajority of undercutting democracy, saying recent rulings had created a “race to the bottom” in redistricting and a “nightmare” of unlimited election spending https://t.co/sUaEQpo5Nj
— Bloomberg (@business) October 21, 2026
With pivotal midterm elections two weeks away, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said the high court’s recent decisions on voting and campaign finance have damaged the nation’s democracy. https://t.co/LGK9BDVmEX
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 21, 2026
A report at the Washington Examiner explained her comments came during at address at Catholic University’s law school in Washington, and were arranged to be heard only two weeks for the 2026 midterm elections.
She also was on the losing side when the court struck down campaign finance restrictions, in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission.
That concerned how much national party committees can spend in coordination with their candidates, a central issue in campaign finance regulation, the report said.
Kagan claimed that the court’s rulings risks deepening political divisions in the country, where Democrats repeatedly have speculated about the physical destruction of their Republican counterparts, or at least jailing them en masse.
Kagan said the decisions are “making what I think is unfortunately a too polarized country even more so.”
She said that following her wishes would be better. “If you basically get democracy down, if you get a well-functioning, healthy political system, then you can count on that political system for a wide range of outcomes,” she said.
