Supreme Court rules on key Voting Rights Act rule, voids majority Black congressional district in Louisiana

The Supreme Court on Wednesday limited the scope of a key Voting Rights Act provision that restricts how states draw districts affecting minority voters, constraining states' use of race as a factor when drawing congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms. 

What we know:

The 6-3 ruling struck down Louisiana’s second majority Black congressional district in a decision that could open the door for Republican-led states to eliminate Black and Latino electoral districts that tend to favor Democrats.

The ruling arrows how states can consider race when drawing maps, a shift that could affect minority representation in multiple states and trigger a new wave of legal challenges over congressional boundaries.

The decision maintains the current legal standard for redistricting disputes nationwide, likely sustaining existing maps in several states and shaping how future challenges unfold in federal courts.  

The backstory:

How did the case end up at the Supreme Court

The ruling follows arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, on whether Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map, which added a second majority-Black district, amounts to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. 

The case was first argued in March when justices ordered both sides to return to court in October for a second hearing to revisit arguments in the case centered on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.  

Section 2 prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group. 

The court asked them to submit briefs on whether Louisiana’s creation of a second majority-Black congressional district under the VRA violates the 14th or 15th Amendments to the Constitution.

Following the Civil War, Congress submitted to the states three Constitutional amendments as part of its Reconstruction program to guarantee equal civil and legal rights to Black citizens.

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, while the 14th Amendment extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to formerly enslaved people, granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people, and the 15th granted African American men the right to vote.

Voting Rights Act

The Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on Aug. 6, 1965 during the height of the civil rights movement.  Congress enacted the federal law to outlaw racial discrimination voting practices that were adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

Section 5 of the VRA, required certain states and local governments, referred to as covered jurisdictions, to get federal approval, known as "preclearance," for any changes to their voting laws or procedures before they could take effect, ensuring they didn't discriminate against minority voters.

The VRA had an immediate impact and by the end of 1965, around 250,000 new Black voters had been registered, one-third by federal examiners. By the end of 1966, only four out of 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was readopted and strengthened in 1970, 1975, and 1982.

The ruling is a fundamental change to the 1965 voting rights law, seen as the  centerpiece legislation of the Civil Rights Movement, that succeeded in opening the ballot box to Black Americans and reducing persistent discrimination in voting.

The ruling could open the door for other state legislatures to redraw congressional maps, eliminating majority Black and Latino districts that tend to favor Democrats. Legislatures already are free to draw extremely partisan districts, subject only to review by state courts, because of a 2019 Supreme Court decision.