politics
Supreme Court Rules Louisiana Congressional Map Unconstitutional
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Louisiana's congressional map creating a second majority-Black district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, narrowing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This decision prompted Louisiana to suspend its primaries and has led officials in states like Mississippi and Tennessee to consider redrawing maps ahead of midterms.
The Boston GlobeAudio version
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Wednesday that Louisiana's congressional map, which created a second majority-Black district, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by constituting a racial gerrymander. In the majority opinion for Louisiana v.
Callais, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the map "relied predominantly on race" in a way that "stereotyped voters" and failed to align with traditional districting principles, while still preserving the "central tenet" of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The decision clarified that Section 2 prohibits practices denying equal voting access based on race but does not require maximizing minority-majority districts without regard to other factors.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, responded to the ruling by suspending the state's primary and runoff elections scheduled for mid-May, according to a statement from his office. Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, said the suspension was necessary to avoid holding elections under the invalidated map and to allow the legislature time to enact a new one.
"This action upholds the rule of law and ensures fair elections," the statement said.
In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, stated last week that he would convene a special legislative session 21 days after the ruling to evaluate potential changes to the state's congressional map, as reported by Mississippi Today. U.S. Rep.
Bennie Thompson, a Democrat representing Mississippi's only majority-Black district, told The Hill that "we have a fight ahead of us" and that the decision "moves us back over 60 years" in terms of representation. Thompson noted that Black residents comprise 38% of Mississippi's population, according to U.S. Census data cited in court filings.
