US Supreme Court calls Louisiana's House map an 'unconstitutional racial gerrymander'

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday (local time) restricted how the Voting Rights Act can be used to create majority-Black or Hispanic electoral districts. The ruling is seen as strengthening Republican efforts to maintain control of the House in this year's midterms and beyond, NBC reported.

In a 6-3 ruling, along partisan lines, the Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana's 2024 election map, which created a second predominant-Black congressional district, was "an unconstitutional racial gerrymander."

Even though the court kept Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act intact, the decision announced Wednesday effectively weakens the landmark law that emerged from the Civil Rights Movement and protects the collective voting power of racial minorities during redistricting.

NBC reported that it isn't clear how the ruling will affect the midterm elections, scheduled to take place in November. Primaries are well underway in most states.

Voting Rights Act weakened since 2013

The Voting Rights Act, which was once considered the jewel in the crown of the civil rights movement, since 2013, has been largely weakened by an increasingly conservative US Supreme Court. A major exception came nearly two years ago, when the court upheld the provision aimed at ensuring minority voters are not removed from the process of drawing new congressional district lines.

What is the case related to?

The case is centered on the redistricting map drawn by the Louisiana legislature after the decennial census. After years of litigation, the state, where roughly 30 per cent of the population is Black, initially resisted but ultimately agreed to create a second majority-Black district. Two of the state’s six House members are African-American.

While normally, that would have ended the case; however, a self-described group of "non-African-American voters" intervened after the new maps were drawn to challenge the legislature’s redistricting.

US President Donald Trump's administration supported the challenge, arguing that Black voters should not have received a second majority-minority district. On April 24, the court agreed. "Correctly understood, Section 2 does not impose liability at odds with the Constitution, and it should not have imposed liability on Louisiana for its 2022 map," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. "Compliance with Section 2 thus could not justify the State's use of race-based redistricting here."

In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote: "I dissent because the Court betrays its duty to faithfully implement the great statute Congress wrote. I dissent because the Court's decision will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity."

According to Bloomberg, Wednesday's ruling is likely to help Republicans, given that disputed districts like the one in Louisiana tend to vote for Democrats. Progressive groups have said that as many as 19 congressional districts with primarily Black or Hispanic populations were at risk, along with a much larger number of state and local districts. A similar challenge to a majority-Black district in Alabama is already pending at the Supreme Court, and the justices are likely to act in that case in the coming days.

The US Supreme Court's verdict comes weeks before Louisiana’s scheduled May 16 primary.