The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Wednesday in a high-stakes case centered on Louisiana’s congressional map, a legal battle that pits the Voting Rights Act’s (VRA) Section 2 against the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
The outcome could fundamentally challenge the use of race in drawing legislative districts across the nation.
The case involves Louisiana’s protracted struggle to balance the VRA’s mandate to prevent the “denial or abridgement” of voting based on race, with constitutional prohibitions against racial gerrymandering.
The Heart of the Dispute: A Second Majority-Black District
Litigation over the state’s map began in 2022 when Black voters challenged a map that included only one majority-black congressional district. After a court order, the Louisiana legislature redrew the map in January 2024, creating a second majority-black district (District 6, shown in pink on one version ).
This new map, however, was quickly challenged by a group of “non-African American” voters who claimed it was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. A three-judge panel agreed, finding that race was the “predominant factor” in the map’s creation, a violation of the Constitution.
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State Senator Glen Womack, who drafted the 2024 map, argued that “politics drove this map,” not race, stating his intent was to protect prominent Republican incumbents like House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
Louisiana’s Argument: Race-Based Maps Are Unconstitutional
Louisiana has strongly argued that “Race-based redistricting under Section 2 is principally unconstitutional.” The state contends such maps inherently rest on a “racial stereotype: that all voters of a particular race must… think alike, share the same interests, and prefer the same political candidates.”
In its brief, the state lamented the “astronomical” time and resources spent on the legal fight, warning the cycle will “repeat itself after the 2030 Census.” It further asserted that race-based voting “harms voters, states and the judiciary,” striking “directly at the very stature of our Nation.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) weighed in, supporting Louisiana’s position, arguing that current race-based redistricting efforts under Section 2 are a “consequence of misguided applications” of the framework set by the Supreme Court’s 1986 Thornburg v. Gingles decision. The DOJ claims Section 2 is “Too often… deployed as a form of electoral race-based affirmative action.”
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A Second Hearing and Broader Implications
This is the second time the Louisiana case has reached the high court, which had postponed a decision last term. The justices asked the parties to specifically address whether the “intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments.”
The case follows the Supreme Court’s 2023 5-4 ruling in Allen v. Milligan, which found Alabama’s map likely violated the VRA. However, the current Court has expressed skepticism regarding race-based practices.
- Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the landmark 2023 decision overturning racial preferences in college admissions, has previously stated that redistricting is a “sordid business, this divvying us up by race.”
- Justice Clarence Thomas, who dissented from the decision to rehear the Louisiana case, wrote that the court has an “obligation to resolve such challenges promptly,” suggesting the court must decide whether Section 2 compliance can “justify a race based remedy.”
With primary elections scheduled for April 18, 2026, Louisiana’s Secretary of State has asked the court for a ruling “ideally in December or early January” to provide clarity for the election cycle.
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