The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Wednesday in a high-stakes case over Louisiana's congressional map, a legal battle that could reshape the future of the Voting Rights Act nationwide. The consolidated cases—Louisiana v. Callais and Robinson v. Callais—center on whether the state legislature's creation of a second majority-Black district, intended to remedy a Voting Rights Act violation, improperly relied on race and thereby violated the Constitution's 14th and 15th Amendments, CBS News reports. The outcome could weaken Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision used for decades to protect minority voting power.
The dispute began after the 2020 census, when Louisiana Republicans drew a map with five majority-white districts and one majority-Black district, despite Black residents making up nearly a third of the state's population. A judge found this diluted Black voting strength and ordered a new map with two majority-Black districts. The revised map, enacted in 2024, led to further legal challenges, this time from a group of white voters who argued the new district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. A divided panel sided with those challengers, and the case returned to the Supreme Court after state officials, including Louisiana's attorney general, argued that drawing districts based on race violates the Constitution, as the Constitution "sees only American voters."
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has long been considered the heart of the law, credited with expanding minority representation nationwide. The Supreme Court upheld Section 2 as recently as 2023, but two key justices, John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh, have suggested the use of race in redistricting should have limits. The Trump administration, along with Louisiana officials, now backs a narrower interpretation of Section 2, arguing that it has been misused as "electoral race-based affirmative action." Civil rights advocates warn that a ruling against the current Section 2 framework could make it much harder for minority voters to challenge discriminatory maps and achieve fair representation.
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The Supreme Court's decision, expected by June, will not only determine Louisiana's congressional boundaries but could also open the door to challenges of voting maps at all levels of government across the country. Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields, elected in the second majority-Black district last year, tells the AP that the redrawn district gives "people of color an opportunity, not a guarantee, to elect a candidate of their choice." He acknowledges that the 218-mile-long district is oddly shaped and covers areas that critics say are vastly different, but says: "You tell me I have to jump a certain height, I can work on that. You tell me I've got to run faster, I can work on that as well. But you tell me I got to be white, there's nothing I can do about that."
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