The US Supreme Court, dominated by conservative justices, on Wednesday struck down a Louisiana district map that created a second majority African-American congressional district, calling it unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. The decision was made by a vote ratio of 6:3 and represents a fundamental limitation of the application of the Law on Electoral Rights from 1965, especially its key provision – paragraph 2. TASR reports on this based on reports from the DPA and AFP agencies.
- The US Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s electoral map for unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
- The six-to-three decision significantly limits the application of paragraph two of the Electoral Act.
- The court called an overreliance on race an unjustified constitutional interest.
- Judge Elena Kagan warned against emptying the right to racial equality.
- The verdict reinforces the trend against racial mapping and paves the way for more litigation.
Gerrymandering is a term denoting the purposeful manipulation of the boundaries of electoral districts in order to favor the political party that enforced their adjustment. The resulting constituencies are often conspicuous in that they do not respect historical or natural boundaries, have a distinctly complex shape, and sometimes even include a different number of voters, thus violating the principle of equality of voters in elections.
Racial criteria for districts?
The court found that the state of Louisiana “relied too much on race” in drawing new district boundaries and that the Voting Rights Act did not require the creation of another majority-black district. Therefore, there was no “compelling state interest” justifying such a course of action.
“This map is an unconstitutional gerrymandering and its application would violate the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights,” conservative Justice Samuel Alito said in the ruling, referring to the group of “non-African American” voters who filed the complaint.
Criticism of the decision
Justice Elena Kagan, who voted against, criticized the court’s decision as “emptying” the basic right to racial equality in elections guaranteed by Congress in the Voting Rights Act.
The verdict should not affect the November 2026 elections, as it is too late to adopt a new electoral map. In these so-called midterm elections, held midway through a president’s four-year term, will decide all seats in the House of Representatives and 33 or 34 seats in the Senate. Many states also hold gubernatorial elections and other local elections and referendums on the same day.
Impact on electoral maps
It may, however, affect the practice of drawing electoral districts across the US, as it reinforces the view that drawing district boundaries along racial lines is unconstitutional even in cases where it is intended to remedy proven discrimination.
It could also lead to more disputes and allow Republican-controlled states to limit the number of districts in which minority voters have a real chance to elect the candidate of their choice.
Louisiana African Americans and Districts Map
African Americans make up a third of Louisiana’s population. The majority of this demographic has traditionally favored Democrats over Republicans. After the 2020 census, Louisiana redrawn its electoral map so that only one of the two precincts where African-Americans had a majority remained. The move was challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other organizations. The Louisiana Legislature subsequently passed a new law in 2024 with two predominantly African-American constituencies. A lawsuit by a group of “non-African American” voters against this decision eventually ended up in the US Supreme Court.
