I stayed up late last night wanting to write about the three-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Allen v. Milligan. I intended to ask how it could be that the same Court that upheld the Voting Rights Act in 2023 has now demolished it — including for the same Black voters in Alabama.

But try as I might, the words escape me.

Over and over again, I try to summon the anger that fills me — that fills all of us. I want to point out the hypocrisy of the Court and the arrogance of the conservative majority. I feel a need to explain that more decisions are on the horizon and why we need court reform.

Instead, as I reflect on the three years since the Milligan case, I find myself focused on hope.

The most precious resource for any opposition or resistance movement is not brave elected officials or organized protests. It is not clever messaging or even smart lawyers. It is hope.

Hope fuels the willingness to stand tall against the grave threats and daily slights. It is why we post on social media, publish our opinions, and litigate for righteous causes. It is why people turn out to protest Kings, call their elected officials, and write postcards to voters they do not know.

It is also why many of you subscribe to Democracy Docket and read what I write. I read your comments, emails, and letters, and I know that my willingness to fight gives you hope. When I meet you on the street, in a restaurant or in a store, you tell me about your own hopes — for a stronger democracy, for free and fair elections, for a more just society.

Mostly, you want me to confirm that there is reason to continue hoping and not to give up.

So, as I reflect on the Supreme Court's recent rulings — to gut Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and to allow Louisiana and Alabama to enact new maps targeting Black voters on an expedited schedule — I struggle to balance them with the hope we must maintain if we are to defeat the current threats to our democracy.

At its core, Trumpism is a nihilistic movement. It does not merely oppose democracy — it tries to extinguish the belief that democracy is worth defending.

Donald Trump wants to destroy hope because a hopeless citizenry does not show up, does not litigate, and does not vote. A people who believe nothing can change will not try to change anything.

That is why it is critical that those of us in the pro-democracy movement continue to have hope. We have seen that elections can diminish Trump's power and even remove him from office. We saw in Minnesota how protests can affect government policy and how our elected officials act.

Signs of hope are present in the courts as well. Scores of Trump's executive orders and policies have been blocked, many more modified. We have blocked his efforts to gain access to sensitive voting data and Republican efforts to restrict voter registration.

Inevitably, discussions of the hopelessness of the courts come down to just one — the Supreme Court. Which brings me back to why it is early in the morning and I am still trying to write about the three-year anniversary of the Milligan decision.

That case created two Black-opportunity districts in Alabama for the first time in our nation's history. The result was that for two years, at least, Black Alabamians had the full representation they deserve. Those two members of Congress serve today, offering a small window into what representative democracy looks like.

Though that is set to revert to a single district as a result of the Supreme Court's most recent decision, the benefits of this two-year period should neither be diminished nor ignored. Above all, the Milligan case — and the brief period that followed — are an example of what we can aspire to, dare I say hope to, achieve again.

The Court's recent reversal has also sharpened the urgency of advancing voting rights legislation the next time Democrats hold power. That opportunity, when it comes, must be seized with far greater boldness than we have seen before.

Finally, the Milligan case still stands as proof of what is possible before a hostile Supreme Court. It is not a case from a different era or a different court composition. It was a hard-fought victory before this conservative court.

Three years later, it remains a beacon of hope for every plaintiff and lawyer seeking redress in court. It shows that despite the odds, we can still win big victories even in the most hostile judicial settings.

I know that this will leave many of you unsatisfied. To be honest, it still leaves me heartbroken.

But heartbroken is different from hopeless. For that, I celebrate Milligan and the other cases like it that help keep hope alive.