The US Supreme Court has ruled that Louisiana must redraw its congressional map in a landmark decision that effectively dismantles a major provision of the Voting Rights Act. In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, the court rendered Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act ineffective. This section, a powerful part of the 1965 civil rights law, had long been used to prevent racial discrimination in voting and ensure fair treatment of minority voters during redistricting.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the conservative majority, stated: "Allowing race to play any part in government decision-making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context. Compliance with Section 2 thus could not justify the state's use of race-based redistricting here. The state's attempt to satisfy the Middle District's ruling, although understandable, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander."
In a sharp dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court had accomplished a "demolition of the Voting Rights Act." The case, Louisiana v. Callais, centered on how much lawmakers may consider race when redrawing districts to ensure adequate representation for Black voters. The Supreme Court initially heard oral arguments in March but took the unusual step of requesting re-argument in the fall, raising the stakes by asking lawyers to address whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is constitutional.
The decision follows years of legal battles over Louisiana's congressional map. After the 2020 census, the Republican-controlled state legislature drew a map with only one majority-Black district, despite Black voters making up about a third of the state's population. A group of Black voters sued in 2022 under the Voting Rights Act, arguing that the map diluted their influence by packing them into one district and spreading them across others. They won, and a federal judge ordered the state to create a second majority-Black district. The state complied, drawing a map with a district stretching diagonally from Shreveport to Baton Rouge.
However, a group of non-Black voters challenged the new map, claiming it unlawfully sorted voters by race, violating the 14th Amendment's equal protection guarantee. A three-judge panel agreed and blocked the map last year. The Supreme Court paused that ruling, allowing the map to be used in the 2024 election, where Democrat Cleo Fields won the seat.
During oral arguments, Edward Greim, lawyer for the plaintiffs, argued that race predominated in drawing the district due to its irregular shape. Lawyers for Louisiana and the Black voters countered that the shape was explained by efforts to preserve safe seats for Republican leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and appropriations committee member Julia Letlow. They rejected a more compact district to protect those incumbents.
