Divided Supreme Court Throws Out Race-Based Voting Map in Louisiana

A divided Supreme Court is rejecting a Louisiana redistricting that created a majority-black voting district saying it was an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”The 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais throws out a Louisiana voting map that created a jagged 250-mile section of the state to comply with a court order to create a second black-majority congressional district.The majority decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito, does not strike down the Voting Rights Act but limits the scope of a key provision. The court says Section 2 of the act does not require race-based redistricting.The decision could be a big win for Republicans as they seek to redrawl election maps to gain more congressional seats.“This is a complete and total victory for American voters,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Associated Press.“The color of one’s skin should not dictate which congressional district you belong in. We commend the court for putting an end to the unconstitutional abuse of the Voting Rights Act and protecting civil rights,” Ms. Jackson added.In a lengthy dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan warned the decision hollows out the Voting Rights Act “born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers.” She was joined in the dissent by the other two liberal justices on the court. “The new Callais requirements will effectively insulate any practice, including any districting scheme, said by a State to have any race-neutral justification,” Justice Kagan wrote.Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits election practices that lead to a denial or abridgement of the right to vote based on race. The section had become the primary tool for addressing complaints of racial gerrymandering.Callais dates back to 2022 when a group of black voters sued over Louisiana’s congressional map. They successfully argued that the map violated Section 2 because only one of the state’s six congressional districts had a black majority, even though about a third of the state’s population is black.Louisiana redrew the map in 2024 with a second majority-black district. A group of “non-African Americans” sued over the new district claiming the deliberate creation of a majority-black district amounted to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.A three-judge panel agreed that the map was unconstitutional and the case went to the Supreme Court.The high court first heard oral arguments in the case last March, but did not issue a decision at the end of its last term. It heard a rare second set of arguments in October.In the first set of oral arguments, Louisiana defended the map in front of the Nine. Its lawyers acknowledged that the district court had ordered it to draw another majority-black district but maintained that the drafters had focused primarily not on race but on politics, deciding which Republicans in Congress to protect.On the last day before their 2025 summer recess, the justices issued an order setting up another argument in this term.In August, the justices told the two sides to file briefs addressing a new question: “Whether the State’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority district violates either the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”The state reversed its position on the map for the second set of arguments and said that race-based redistricting is unconstitutional, even if it is done to remedy discrimination in compliance with Section 2.Lawyers for the black voters who defended the 2024 map argued that Section 2 does not violate the Constitution and is the “crown jewel of civil rights legislation.” That argument didn’t hold water with the current majority on the court.Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter warned a ruling gutting Section 2 could help secure an additional 27 safe Republican seats in the House seats, at least “19 directly tied to the loss of Section 2.”The decision could spur a new round of redistricting but it’s unclear how many states would act in time to affect maps for November’s midterm elections.

Divided Supreme Court Throws Out Race-Based Voting Map in Louisiana

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