The Supreme Court has brought an unfortunate end to the years-long fight to end extreme partisan gerrymandering in federal courts. The ruling is a setback for democracy, undoing a strong, recent string of victories by voters in trial courts around the nation. By refusing to let the federal judiciary tackle this critical issue, the court has set the stage for more attempts at extreme gerrymandering and raised the importance of enacting other reforms.

Although federal litigation is no longer a viable route toward fair maps, other channels to fight extreme gerrymandering still exist. Congress can pick up where the court left off — the House has already passed H.R. 1 — and so can the states.

The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s lies about its reason for adding a citizenship question to the census. This means that the question is currently blocked from appearing on the 2020 census. This should have been an easy case, and in the end it was.

This week the Supreme Court had an opportunity to advance democracy, and instead chose to dodge their responsibilities by ruling that cases on partisan gerrymandering can’t be heard by federal courts. That means our fight for fair maps just got more urgent.

The people deserve — and demand —elected officials that truly represent them. Not special interests. Not entrenched politicians. We will redouble our efforts against partisan gerrymandering — and we’re depending on you to make sure we keep going!