HBO’s John Oliver went on an especially nasty rant against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight for his recent majority opinion in Louisiana v. Callais. Oliver declared that Alito’s claim that the South isn’t as racist as it was in the 60s is “obviously horseshit” and suggested Alito supports segregation multiple times. Oliver teed up a clip of a report from ABC’s Rachel Scott by claiming, “That ruling basically gutted Section Two of the VRA, which prohibits race-based discrimination when it comes to voting, including drawing election maps that dilute minority voting power, and in writing the opinion for the majority, Justice Alito took a bold swing.”   John Oliver claims it "obviously horseshit" that America, and especially the South, have made strides in fighting, in Justice Sam Alito's words, "entrenched racial discrimination." He says Alito has "'This school dance wasn't supposed to be integrated' energy" and calls him… pic.twitter.com/laUAelx2zL — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) May 5, 2026   In the clip, Scott reported, “Justice Alito writing, ‘The only time race can be a factor is when there's evidence the state intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race.’ Alito noting ‘vast social change has occurred throughout the country and particularly in the South, which have made great strides in ending entrenched racial discrimination.’” Oliver was clearly not a fan, “Okay, that is obviously horseshit, especially given—to the extent America's made progress on racial discrimination, it's been in part thanks to the law he just fucking gutted.” It does not follow that because the VRA helped end racial discrimination that the South will revert back to the Jim Crow era if sections of it are weakened. Nevertheless, Oliver moved on to some personal cheap shots against Alito, “Still, credit to ABC for picking that photo of Alito, which has strong ‘This school dance wasn't supposed to be integrated’ energy. He looks like he's angry about the existence of jazz.” Oliver then confused voting rights with seeing your preferred candidate win as he once again suggested Alito was cool with segregation, “Experts predict this ruling will roll back decades of progress in minority representation, at both the local and national levels, with some anticipating it could set up the largest-ever decline in the number of black representatives on Capitol Hill. Which sure feels like a few steps back from those giant strides forward that Segregation Sammy here was talking about.” Last Week Tonight is not exactly a pillar of racial diversity. Two of Last Week Tonight’s 14 credited writers are black, which is a worse ratio than the one out of six justices on the Supreme Court’s conservative bloc that made up the majority in Louisiana v. Callais. Here is a transcript for the May 3 show: HBO Last Week Tonight with John Oliver 5/3/2026 11:14 PM ET JOHN OLIVER: That ruling basically gutted Section Two of the VRA, which prohibits race-based discrimination when it comes to voting, including drawing election maps that dilute minority voting power, and in writing the opinion for the majority, Justice Alito took a bold swing. RACHEL SCOTT: Justice Alito writing, "The only time race can be a factor is when there's evidence the state intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race.” Alito noting “vast social change has occurred throughout the country and particularly in the South, which have made great strides in ending entrenched racial discrimination." OLIVER: Okay, that is obviously horseshit, especially given—to the extent America's made progress on racial discrimination, it's been in part thanks to the law he just fucking gutted. Still, credit to ABC for picking that photo of Alito, which has strong "This school dance wasn't supposed to be integrated" energy. He looks like he's angry about the existence of jazz.  Experts predict this ruling will roll back decades of progress in minority representation, at both the local and national levels, with some anticipating it could set up the largest-ever decline in the number of black representatives on Capitol Hill. Which sure feels like a few steps back from those giant strides forward that Segregation Sammy here was talking about.