The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Louisiana’s efforts to create a second congressional district with a majority Black population constituted unconstitutional gerrymandering achieved through racist means. The Justices affirmed a ruling from a federal district court that had previously prohibited the state from using its proposed congressional map.
The decision came with a vote of six to three, with the justices appointed by Republican presidents prevailing. The court had, in past decisions in 2019 and 2024, previously allowed partisan drawing of district lines that resulted in or solidified majority-white districts.
In the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito argued that the U.S. Constitution prohibit states from discriminating based on race almost under all circumstances. Conversely, Justice Elena Kagan criticized the majority opinion, accusing it of dismantling the Voting Rights Act implemented during the Civil Rights Movement of 1965.
Kagan wrote that the Voting Rights Act initiated a profound transformation and brought the nation closer to realizing the ideals of democracy and racial equality. She argued, “And it has been repeatedly and overwhelmingly extended by the people’s representatives in Congress. Only they have the right to say that it is no longer needed-not the members of this Court”. She concluded, “I therefore reject this recent chapter in the majority’s fully realized erosion of the Voting Rights Act”.