Overview

• On August 1, the Supreme Court directed parties in Louisiana v. Callais to file supplemental briefs by the start of its October term ahead of reargument.
• The case contests Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map, which added a second majority-Black district after courts found the 2020 plan diluted Black voting strength.
• Plaintiffs argue the remedial map amounts to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Equal Protection Clause, while the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund defends it as required under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
• Justice Brett Kavanaugh has signaled that race-based redistricting remedies cannot extend indefinitely, endorsing a temporal limit on such measures.
• Observers warn that a decision narrowing Section 2 could strip a central tool against minority vote dilution nationwide and alter representation ahead of the 2026 midterms.