Election denier who attended J6 rally exposed as face of landmark Supreme Court case

The lead plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court ruling that dismantled the Voting Rights Act is an election conspiracy theorist who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol, according to a new Democracy Docket report published on Tuesday.

Phillip "Bert" Callais, a veteran living near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who was named as the lead plaintiff in Louisiana v. Callais, appeared on Capitol grounds during the Stop the Steal protest aimed at blocking President Joe Biden's certification as U.S. president. He apparently posted photos and video from the scene that day.

In the Supreme Court case, Callais was described as a "non-African American voter" from Brusly, Louisiana, "whose congressional district changed after the state redrew its map." Callais said he was a member of his local board of supervisors in 2024.

"But social media posts exclusively reviewed by Democracy Docket paint a far more troubling picture of Callais — suggesting a man who harbors a deep distrust of the election system, which he has called 'rigged,' and who is steeped in false conspiracy theories about voting," the outlet reported. "In the days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, a nationally prominent election denier posted a photo of himself shaking hands with Callais, calling him a 'hero.'"

Callais has posted on social media about his involvement on Jan. 6, where thousands of pro-Trump supporters gathered at the U.S. Capitol to protest Biden's 2020 presidential election victory, which Trump and his allies have falsely claimed was fraudulent. The protest escalated into a violent riot where rioters breached the Capitol building, clashed with law enforcement, damaged property, and disrupted the certification process, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries and leading to widespread investigations and prosecutions of participants.

Callais has tried to argue that the events weren't as damaging.

"It wasn't total chaos as the news will lead you to believe," he claimed at the time, posting a video on social media from the day.

But Callais was steeped in false voting conspiracies, according to Democracy Docket. He repeatedly spread claims that elections are "rigged," promoted hand-counted ballots over electronic systems, and amplified debunked theories about noncitizen voting. He also defended Colorado clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted in a voting systems data breach, calling her persecution "wrong."

He apparently told a disabled voter to 'find someone to haul you to the polls,' dismissed mail-in ballot concerns as putting 'the rest of the country at risk,' and advocated replacing electronic systems with hand-counted ballots as a 'solution to our manipulated voting system.'