Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Map as Racial Gerrymander

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Wednesday that Louisiana's congressional district map constituted an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, narrowing the application of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in redistricting cases. The decision in Louisiana v. Callais, centered on a map with two majority-Black districts, requires challengers to show a strong inference of intentional racial discrimination rather than merely a discriminatory effect.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The court found that Louisiana lacked a compelling reason to prioritize race in drawing the second majority-minority district, as the state comprises about one-third Black residents. The three liberal justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented. Justice Kagan wrote that the ruling would allow states to dilute minority voting power without legal consequence if framed as partisan.

The case stemmed from Louisiana's 2024 map, drawn after an appeals court ordered changes to the state's initial post-2020 census plan, which had one majority-Black...