Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana congressional map, effectively gutting Section 2 of Voting Rights Act
Primary region US
Tags Courts · Elections
Regions US
On April 29, 2026, the US Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais striking down Louisiana's second majority-Black congressional district and effectively eviscerating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The ruling held that race-conscious redistricting under Section 2 violates the 14th and 15th Amendments, with all six Republican-appointed justices in the majority and all three Democratic-appointed justices dissenting. Justice Alito authored the majority opinion, while Justice Kagan wrote the dissent joined by Sotomayor and Jackson. The decision empowers Republican-led states including Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina to pursue new congressional maps that could shift up to nine House seats from Democratic to Republican hands. Nine states have state-level voting rights acts, while eleven more have introduced bills to protect voters in the absence of federal protections.
Strategic interpretation
The ruling removes the primary federal tool for challenging racially discriminatory redistricting, giving Republican state legislatures a clear path to redraw maps ahead of the 2026 midterms. Democrats may respond with state-level litigation and legislation, but the absence of Section 2 significantly weakens their legal leverage. This could reshape the balance of power in the House for the remainder of the decade.