Overview

• In a 47-page filing in Louisiana v. Callais, the state reversed course and told the Court that race-based redistricting is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause and should not be shielded by Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
• Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill and Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga argued that the Gingles framework is unworkable and urged the Court to overrule or significantly narrow it.
• Black voters and civil-rights groups asked the Court to reinstate the 2024 map, asserting that Section 2 properly allows limited consideration of race to remedy proven vote dilution.
• The dispute follows a 2022 map found likely to violate Section 2, a 2024 remedial plan (S.B. 8) creating a second majority-Black district, and a three-judge ruling that blocked S.B. 8 as a racial gerrymander before the Supreme Court allowed it for the 2024 election.
• Legal experts say a ruling for Louisiana could reduce majority-Black districts nationwide, a prospect that contrasts with the Court’s recent Alabama decision that yielded additional Black representation.