Supreme Court bars Louisiana second Black-majority district

The US Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 that Louisiana must redraw its congressional map, declaring that the creation of a second Black-majority district was an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander" that relied too heavily on race as a factor. The landmark decision in Louisiana v Callais addresses a thorny question about how much lawmakers are permitted to consider race when redrawing districts to ensure adequate representation for Black voters, who comprise about one-third of the state's population. The court declined to strike down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, leaving that provision intact for now. After the 2020 census, the Republican-controlled state legislature drew a new congressional map in which Black voters comprised a majority in just one district despite being a third of the state's population. Black voters sued under the Voting Rights Act, and a federal judge blocked the map and required the creation of a second majority-Black district. The state complied by drawing a new district stretching diagonally from Shreveport to Baton Rouge. However, non-Black voters challenged that map, arguing that voters had been unlawfully sorted by race in violation of the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. A three-judge panel agreed and blocked the new map, though the Supreme Court paused that decision, allowing the remedial map to be used in the 2024 election where Cleo Fields, a Black Democrat, won the seat. The ruling could have sweeping implications for redistricting efforts across the country, as it limits the ability of lawmakers to use race as a factor in drawing congressional maps. Republican officials had argued that the racial discrimination that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 should no longer apply in modern times. This decision follows a series of Supreme Court rulings that have gradually eroded protections in the Voting Rights Act, including a landmark 2013 case that gutted a key provision requiring states with histories of discrimination to seek federal approval before changing voting laws.