On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, in Louisiana v. Callais. In its decision, the Court made null the Louisiana Bill SB 8, that provided two majority-Black districts in 2024. Section 2 was considered the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement by earlier Supreme Court decisions and is the provision that allowed (and sometimes required) the creation of majority-minority districts, which is a main factor in how Black and Latino representatives have been elected to Congress.

The statute, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, prohibits state and local officials from adopting or maintaining voting laws or procedures that purposefully discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group. It protects minority communities from having their political power unfairly weakened. This commonly happens through redistricting — drawing electoral boundaries that unfairly “pack” minority voters into a single district to limit their influence elsewhere, or “crack” them across multiple districts so they cannot reach a majority. 

In Louisiana v. Callais, it was argued that the Louisiana 2024 map should remain because it satisfies the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The Voting Rights Act, which was enacted in 1965, has been a very important piece of legislation in the United States, and has had a tremendous impact in narrowing the gaps between minority voter turnout and White voter turnout. The 2024 Louisiana map fairly recognized the political power of Black Louisianians, who make up one third of the state’s population, in stark contrast to the discriminatory map passed by the state legislature in 2022, which federal courts determined likely violated the Voting Rights Act by including only one district where Black voters had an opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.

As a result, in 2024, Louisiana had to redraw its congressional map to include two districts where Black voters had an opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.

In January 2024, a group of non-Black voters challenged the 2024 map as a racial gerrymander in violation of the 14th Amendment. The voters claimed, despite contrary facts, that “race was the sole reason” for the district lines.

The Louisiana v. Callais opinion changes the interpretations of the voting Rights Act. As a result of the Supreme Court decision to eliminate the 2024 maps. Black voters and other voters of color could face the elimination of districts, not just in Louisiana, but across the country that have provided fair representation.

The 6-3 ruling, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, made it drastically harder for plaintiffs to challenge voting maps under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Instead of just showing that a map had a discriminatory effect, challengers must now meet a nearly impossible standard of proving intentional racial discrimination. The Court’s ruling significantly weakens Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The decision condoned partisan gerrymandering, essentially allowing states to legally justify discriminatory maps by claiming they were drawn for partisan political goals rather than racial ones. The ruling can reduce minority representation in Congress and other legislative bodies nationwide.

Alito’s decision made it clear that the Court’s majority believed that any use of race in considering the composition of voting districts needed to meet the Court’s most demanding test: strict scrutiny.

The Dissent written by Justice Elena Kagan (joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson), argued that the decision destroys foundational protections of racial equality in electoral opportunity. Kagan labeled it as the “latest chapter in the majority’s now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act.”

Joy Cowdery, member of Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens. Our mission is to inform and educate the Mid-Ohio Valley about how government works on the local, state, and federal levels and how citizens can be involved to make our democracy work. Join us the third Monday of each month — livingdemocracymov@gmail.com and facebook/livingdemocracy:engagingcitizens and Youtube channel Living Democracy.