DemDaily: Supreme Court Decimates Voting Rights Act
May 4, 2026
In a devastating blow to democracy, the US Supreme Court's conservative majority on Wednesday struck down a Louisiana congressional map as unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered -- dismantling the last vestiges of protection for communities of color under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The Court's 6-3 decision along ideological lines in Louisiana v. Callais struck down Louisiana's second majority-Black congressional district and held that race-conscious redistricting under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional.
The landmark ruling overturns more than 60 years of precedent and all but nullifies the gains born out of the Civil Rights Movement and the sacrifices that generations of Americans have made to ensure that every citizen has an equal vote in our elections.
| The most far-reaching civil rights legislation in modern US history, the Voting Rights Act (VRA), passed on August 6, 1965, prohibits racial discrimination in voting by enforcing the rights of racial minorities, as guaranteed by the US Constitution's Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Although Congress continued to renew the law as recently as 2006, those protections have rapidly eroded under the Courts' growing conservative majority in recent years, and subsequent voter suppression laws passed in Republican-controlled legislatures. Only the part of Section 2 which prohibits "the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race or color" remained. |
The Case: Louisiana v. Callais
Following the 2020 census and decennial redistricting, Louisiana's Republican-controlled legislature passed a congressional map with only one majority-Black district out of six.
As the census established that approximately one-third of the state's population was Black, voters and civil rights groups challenged the legislature’s map, arguing that it diluted the votes of Black people and violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination by race in elections.
In June 2022, a federal judge agreed, ordering the legislature to draw up a new map with two majority-Black districts. After a series of legal appeals and stays, the legislature complied, passing SB 8 in January 2024 that created a second majority-Black district. Immediately after its passage, a group of "non-African American" voters filed a suit, flipping the interpretation and arguing the new map was an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander" in violation of the 14th Amendment, as race was the "predominant factor" in drawing the lines.
A three-judge panel agreed, striking down the map in May 2024. On appeal, the Supreme Court issued an emergency stay, allowing the 2024 elections to proceed under the two-district map while it considered the merits.
The Supreme Court originally heard the case in March 2025, but took the rare step of ordering re-arguments for October 2025. In a clear indication that the Court's conservative majority was considering a major reinterpretation of Section 2, they directed all parties to submit briefs addressing the constitutional question of whether the new maps violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
More specifically -- whether considering race to address proven racial discrimination in electoral maps can itself be treated as unconstitutional because of the Constitution’s promise of equal protection.
| “The Voting Rights Act is -- or, now more accurately, was -- ‘one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nation’s history.’ It was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers. It ushered in awe-inspiring change, bringing this Nation closer to fulfilling the ideals of democracy and racial equality. It has been repeatedly and overwhelmingly reauthorized by the people's Representatives in Congress. Only they have the right to say it is no longer needed -- not the Members of this Court.” - Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the dissent |
The ruling from the Supreme Court, destroying one of the last pillars of the Voting Rights Act, marks the end of a decades-long campaign by right-wing Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito to roll back civil rights legislation.
Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that “allowing race to play any part in government decisionmaking represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context.” He said Section 2 is effectively now limited to instances of "intentional discrimination," a very high standard.
Although Wednesday’s ruling did not technically strike down the key remaining provision of the VRA, Kagan said the upshot of the decision is that states “can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power,” rendering the provision “all but a dead letter.”
The Aftermath
The decision in Callais, considered a big win for Donald Trump and Republicans, will have an impact far beyond Louisiana. Not only will it make it much harder to bring discrimination claims against redistricting maps, but it will also endanger the nearly 70 majority-minority Congressional districts specifically mandated or protected by section 2.
The ruling immediately unleashed a new round in the already unprecedented nationwide mid-decade redistricting battle that Trump kicked off this year to rig congressional maps to dilute the voting power of Black and Latino voters and boost their chances of holding onto control of the US House in the 2026 midterms.
Within moments of the decision, Southern Republican Governors moved swiftly to call special sessions and redraw their maps to eliminate majority-minority districts.
DemList will keep you informed.
| "Combined with Republicans’ mid-decade gerrymandering in states like Texas and Missouri, a ruling gutting Section 2 could help the GOP secure an additional 27 U.S. House safe Republican seats when compared to the 2024 House maps – at least 19 directly tied to the loss of Section 2 – enough to lock in one-party control of the US House." - Politico |
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Sources: Brennan Center, SCOTUS Blog, Alliance for Justice, Politico, The Guardian, MSNBC, AP, US Supreme Court, New York Times
