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Supreme Court Rehears Louisiana Case Testing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

The rare reargument focuses on whether race‑based remedial districts authorized under Section 2 violate the 14th and 15th Amendments.

FILE - Students and a member of the Zulu Tramps march to a campus polling place on Election Day at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - President Lyndon Johnson, at podium, speaks in the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, before to signing the Voting Rights Act, Aug. 6, 1965. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Students line up to vote at a campus polling place at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Democrat State Sen. Cleo Fields speaks during the swearing in of the Louisiana state legislature in Baton Rouge, La., Jan. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, Pool, File)

Overview

  • The justices are hearing arguments for a second time after expanding the case in June to ask if race‑conscious redistricting to remedy vote dilution is constitutional.
  • Louisiana has abandoned defense of its 2024 map and now aligns with self‑described non‑African‑American voters and the Trump administration in urging a bar on race‑based map‑drawing.
  • Black voters and civil rights groups defend the current lines as a lawful Section 2 remedy after a district court and the Fifth Circuit found the prior map likely diluted Black voting power.
  • The dispute centers on the reconfigured 6th District linking Shreveport and Baton Rouge, which a three‑judge panel said relied too heavily on race when drawn.
  • A decision expected by June 2026 could reshape maps nationwide, with advocates estimating that weakening Section 2 could reconfigure about 19 U.S. House districts ahead of the 2026 midterms, and Roberts and Kavanaugh viewed as pivotal given their 2023 Alabama vote.