SCOTUS rules on important Voting Rights legislation ahead of midterm elections

I Supreme Court On Wednesday, a key Voting Rights Act provision that limits how districts draw minority voter districts was struck down, forcing states to use race as a factor when drawing congressional maps before the 2026 midterms.

The 6-3 decision narrows the way states can take race into account when drawing maps, a change that could affect minority representation in many states and trigger a new wave of legal challenges over congressional boundaries.

The decision upholds the current legal standard for redistricting disputes across the country, which may hold up existing maps in several states and shape how future challenges take place in federal courts.

case, Louisiana v. Calais, was challenged for the first time last March before the Supreme Court, and focused on whether Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map, which added a second Black district, amounted to unconstitutional discrimination.

The dispute reached the high court after months of legal back-and-forth, including oral arguments last March, and a rare second round of arguments last October, focused on whether the Louisiana map (and the creation of a second Black state under the VRA) violated the 14th or 15th Amendments to the Constitution.

The dissenting justices appeared skeptical during October’s hearings about upholding Section 2 of the VRA, as is, and pressed an NAACP attorney on whether he believed there should be a time limit on the use of race as a purpose in drawing voting districts under the law.

JUDGES SAY THEY WILL REDAW LOUISIANA’S CONGRESSIONAL MAP IF LEGISLATORS CAN’T.

Amid those arguments, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and other conservatives on the high court appeared open to the idea that Congress, in passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, may have intended a kind of “sunset period” for Section 2, allowing it to weaken over time.

That may have been requested by Kavanaugh several times during oral arguments, as he pressed Louisiana state attorneys and the NAACP for more information.

Hashim Mooppan, deputy attorney general, told the court that Louisiana’s congressional map drawn in response to Section 2 of the VRA could be interpreted as a “reverse partisan gerrymander,” and based on “racially biased” considerations.

Meanwhile, NAACP attorney Janai Nelson, arguing the case on behalf of black voters, told the high court that siding with Louisiana’s request to reverse the map would be a “dramatic reversal of precedent,” which she said would “throw maps across the country into chaos.”

NEW LOUISIANA HOUSE DISTRICT REJECTED, NOVEMBER ELECTION MAP NOT CONFIRMED

Black Louisiana voters and civil rights advocates are asking SCOTUS to uphold a fairer and more representative congressional map in Louisiana v. Callais in the Supreme Court of the United States on Mar. 24, 2025, Washington, DC (Photos by Jemal Countess/Getty for Legal Defense Fund)

The decision from the high court has long been expected to have a major impact on the upcoming elections.

Critics have warned in recent months that weakening the VRA could further erode minority voter protections under the Voting Rights Act, at a time when several Republican-led states are trying to force new congressional maps ahead of the midterms.

They argued in letters to the Supreme Court that non-Black voters failed to show the direct harm necessary for equal protection claims or to prove race was a primary factor in redrawing the map.

But attorneys who argued the case on behalf of the NAACP and black voters in the state warned that a decision in Louisiana’s favor could have a major impact on races in 2026 and beyond.

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A recent report from the nonprofit groups Fair Fight Action and the Black Voters Matter Fund estimates that the VRA overhaul could shift as many as 12 Democratic-held House districts in favor of Republican candidates.

This is a breaking story. Check back soon for updates.