The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a 6–3 ruling that significantly undercuts a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, raising the legal threshold for racial minorities to challenge electoral maps as discriminatory. In a decision authored by Samuel Alito and supported by the court’s conservative majority, the justices upheld a lower court ruling that blocked Louisiana’s revised congressional map, which had included a second Black-majority district. The court determined that the map relied too heavily on race, violating the Constitution’s equal protection principles.
The case centered on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision designed to prevent voting practices that dilute minority voting power even without explicit discriminatory intent. The ruling narrows the interpretation of Section 2, with the majority stating it should align strictly with the Fifteenth Amendment prohibition on intentional racial discrimination. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the dissent, warned that the decision effectively weakens protections against vote dilution, arguing that it “eviscerates” a critical civil rights safeguard.
The judgment comes amid ongoing political battles over redistricting ahead of upcoming congressional elections, with Republicans seeking to maintain narrow majorities in Congress. The case arose after Louisiana lawmakers redrew district boundaries following the 2020 census, initially creating one Black-majority district before adding a second under court pressure. The revised map was later challenged by non-Black voters, leading to the legal dispute. The ruling also builds on the court’s history of scaling back the Voting Rights Act, including its landmark 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder.
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