WASHINGTON Democrats are sounding the alarm on the remaining federal protections for voting rights, fearing the Supreme Court may completely hollow out the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and deal another blow to electoral representation of racial minorities nationwide.

The fears follow the Supreme Courts decision on Monday to block a lower courts order striking down Alabamas redistricting plan as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Voting Rights Act. The lower court had ruled that Alabama must provide at least two Black-majority congressional districts, as opposed to the one created in the latest redistricting plan, for its 27% Black population in order to avoid violating requirements in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act that provide for a minimum of minority representation.

In an opinion joined by four other conservative justices, Justice Brett Kavanaugh declared that it was too close to the states May primary election to redraw maps to include a second district with a minority opportunity and also said the court would take up the case for full arguments later this year. Those arguments are likely to end with another opinion from the courts conservative majority further hobbling the landmark Voting Rights Act.

I think the warning signs on our democracy are flashing, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) told HuffPost, calling the ruling consistent with the kind of hostility to voting rights weve seen from the Supreme Court.

The issue at hand is whether the Voting Rights Acts protections for minority representation when states draw new legislative district lines will continue to take race into account or whether they will become race-blind.

Currently, states with significant populations of racial minorities are required under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to draw districts where those minority groups can elect their preferred representatives while meeting some criteria, including whether the district is compact and whether racial polarization is so severe as to prevent them from selecting their preferred representative. States must also draw district lines, based on the constitutions equal protection clause, without taking race into account absent a significant reason, like compliance with the Voting Rights Act. But that might be about to change.