The Court came for Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act today. The Callais decision renders Section 2 "all but a dead letter," in the words of Justice Elena Kagan. Plaintiffs now have to prove intentional discrimination. This is almost impossible.

The Voting Rights Act tried to deliver multiracial representation through the geography of single-member districts. It worked, for a while. It elected more racially diverse members of Congress. It is now a dead letter.

John Roberts has spent forty years saying race-conscious districting illegitimately produces proportional outcomes. He has finally achieved his legal dream.

It is now time to rethink the single-member district that makes racial gerrymandering possible now. We need a solution that does not rely on the Court.

The answer is proportional representation. Proportional representation enables equal representation to minority voters as a structural feature, not as a litigated favor any future court can take away.

Guy-Uriel Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer predicted today's ruling in Democracy Journal ( democracyjournal.org/ma…: "Sooner or later, the Section 2 regime as we know it will be no more."

Their recent Yale Law Review article (yalelawjournal.org/essa…) puts it directly argues that given the current Court and the impending end of Section 2, "Proportional representation is thus the logical destination."

The system they recommend is open-list PR in multi-member House districts. Voters still pick the candidate, not just the party. Parties have to compete for voters of color rather than capture them.

Black voters, Hispanic voters, Asian voters, rural voters can elect candidates of their choice, without race-conscious line drawing, without having to prove that state legislatures intentionally tried to discriminate against.

Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to "make or alter" the rules for congressional elections.

The Court closed Section 2 today. Congress can open something better tomorrow.