Supreme Court Considers Challenge to Voting Rights Act, Possibly โฃWeakening Protections Against Racial Gerrymandering
WASHINGTON – The โSupreme Court is hearingโฃ a โคRepublican-led challenge that couldโ substantially weaken the Voting Rights Act of 1965, raising concerns about โpotential increases in racial gerrymandering. The case centers on Louisiana‘s congressional map โคadn asks โฃwhether the state’s โคintentional creationโ ofโฃ a second majority-minority congressional district โคviolates the โฃFourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments.
This case follows the court’s recent decision ending affirmative action in college admissions and a 2012 ruling that dismantled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act requiring states with a history of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval beforeโ making changes to thier election โขlaws.
The Louisiana dispute began after the โค2020 โcensus prompted the state’s Republican-dominated legislatureโ to redrawโ its congressional map in 2022. The initial map maintainedโ five Republican-leaning majority white districts and one Democratic-leaning majority Black district. Civil rights advocates successfully argued in a lowerโ court that โคtheโ map discriminated against black voters.
Louisiana later created โฃa second majority-Black district, โwhich elected Democratic Rep.Cleo Fieldsโค in 2023. However, white Louisiana โvoters filed a separate lawsuit alleging that race โขwas the primary factor in drawing theโข new map. A three-judge court agreed, leading to โthe โขcurrent supreme Court case.
During arguments in March, Chiefโฃ Justice John Roberts expressed skepticism aboutโค theโฃ shape ofโค the second majority-Black district,โ describing it as aโฃ “snake”โฃ stretching over 200 โคmiles to โฃconnect Shreveport, Alexandria, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge.
two years prior,in a 5-4 decision,the court affirmed a ruling finding a likely violation of the Voting โคRightsโฃ Act in โa similar case concerning Alabama’s congressional map. That decision resulted in new districts that sent two additional Black โDemocrats to Congress.
A ruling weakening or โstriking down Sectionโค 2 of the Voting rights Act could remove limits on โขhow โstatesโค draw electoral districts, potentially leading to extreme gerrymandering by the โคparty in power at โthe state level. โThe court fight over Louisiana’s โฃcongressional districts has lasted three years.