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The Supreme Court could deal a major blow to Donald Trump and Republican members of Congress gerrymandering arms race Across the country.
More than a decade after the end of One Key component of the voting rights actJustices are once again being asked to dismantle the vestiges of a decades-old civil rights law that sought to free the grip of Jim Crow-era threats on voting rights.
But for Republican officials and Trump administration lawyers who are taking their case to the Supreme Court, the racial discrimination that led to passage of the landmark law in 1965 is a thing of the past.
They argue that a redrawn Louisiana congressional map that creates a second majority-black congressional district violates the same constitutional amendments that were designed to protect minority voters after the Civil War.
At the heart of the case before the Supreme Court is the future of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bans voting rules that discriminate on the basis of race. If the justices decide that states are not required to consider the racial implications of drawing congressional districts, the results could be sweeping, opening the door for Republican lawmakers to overturn Democratic-led districts across the South.
Repealing Section 2 would be “pretty devastating,” according to Janai Nelson, director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is representing black voters in the case.
If the judge sides with Louisiana and the Trump administration, it will be “A shocking reversal of precedent “This will spread chaos across maps across the country,” he told the justices during oral arguments Wednesday.
No decision expected until 2026, but could escalate aggression Trump-backed campaign to redraw congressional districts ahead of midterm elections Which can determine the balance of power in the House for decades.
The developing war on Congress maps is as follows Series of Supreme Court decisions which has happened gradually The Voting Rights Act was abolished and constitutional guardrails to protect against racial gerrymandering, or drawing electoral maps to prevent racial minorities from electing their preferred candidates.
In a landmark case in 2013, the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of discrimination to seek approval from the federal government before changing their voting laws.
“Our country has changed,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote at the time. “And while any racial discrimination in voting is excessive, Congress must ensure that any legislation it passes to address that problem is consistent with current circumstances.”
But he said Section 2 “is permanent, applies nationwide, and is not at issue in this case.”
Black voters make up a third of Louisiana’s population, but they were largely “packed” into one majority-Black district and “broken up” into five others after the state drew a new map following the 2020 census. The majority of black voters in the state have voted for Democratic candidates.
Following a Voting Rights Act lawsuit against the state, Louisiana was required to redraw its own congressional map last year to ensure a second majority-Black district. The Supreme Court heard the case earlier this year, but, in a rare move, asked the parties to argue it again – expanding the scope of the case to deal with the key constitutional questions that threaten Section 2.
Louisiana initially defended its new map, but the state changed sides and joined a group of “non-African-American” voters who sued to block it on constitutional grounds. The Trump administration also got involved in this matter.
According to Press Robinson, one of the black plaintiffs challenging the Louisiana law, “It seems to me a little disingenuous for the state of Louisiana to argue that things have changed to such an extent that there is no need for special exemptions for black voters.”
“The first time I tried to get into politics was in 1974, and I had to file a lawsuit to become an elected member of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board,” he told reporters this month. “Almost 60 years later here I am, and we’re fighting for the second congressional district that is majority black. So, has Louisiana really changed? I don’t see it. … We represent a third of the state’s population, and we should have a third of this congressional representation. And we don’t.”
During Wednesday’s oral arguments, several conservative justices asked where there should be a deadline, or a cut-off point, when considering race as a factor in drawing congressional maps.
“What do you think the end point should be?” Trump-appointed Judge Brett Kavanaugh asked.
Nelson replied, “We would be remiss if we decided that Section 2 is no longer needed simply because it has been so successful in rooting out racial discrimination in voting.”