Supreme Court Rules Louisiana Map Violates Voting Rights Act

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Louisiana's congressional redistricting map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by considering race when drawing district lines, a decision that requires proof of intentional discrimination to challenge such maps.

The 6-3 ruling, written by Justice Samuel Alito, addressed a map that created Louisiana's second majority-Black congressional district, enabling the election of Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields. Alito wrote that Section 2 targets intentional racial discrimination, not unintentional effects that dilute minority voting power. In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan argued the standard creates "an almost insurmountable barrier" for proving discrimination in voting rights cases.

The decision marks another step in the court's narrowing interpretation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on Aug. 6, 1965, at a Capitol Hill ceremony following the Bloody Sunday attack on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama. The law has significantly increased minority representation, from about 1,500 Black elected officials nationwide in 1970 to more than 10,000 today, according to voting rights experts.