The Supreme Court this week struck down a Louisiana congressional map that added a second majority-Black voter district, a decision that will have major impacts on the Voting Rights Act and is already causing a stir in several other states.
Louisiana in 2024 adopted the new map but a group of voters argued it was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The matter made its way to the Supreme Court that year and the justices said the state could use that map in the November 2024 general elections.
However, the case was added to the court’s docket this term and in anticipation of a decision by the end of 2025, Louisiana state lawmakers were ready to convene a special session to create a new map. The justices didn’t issue a ruling until late April, causing the state to scramble ahead of its May 16th primary elections.
The ruling Wednesday was 6-3, divided along ideological lines. While the justices didn’t exactly strike down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the ruling has implications for voters across the country.
The decision in Louisiana v. Callais has already led other states to spring into action and redraw their maps ahead of the competitive 2026 fight to control Congress.
Alito: Constitution ‘almost never’ permits discrimination on the basis of race
The majority opinion was delivered by Justice Samuel Alito, where he said the Constitution “almost never” permits the federal or state government to discriminate on the basis of race. He said Section 2 is violated only when there is evidence that an “intentional” discrimination based on race occurred.
Alito said Louisiana adopted the map with a “racial” goal to give Black voters an advantage but argued that in the decades since the Voting Rights Act was passed, “things have changed dramatically” in the South and Black voters participate in elections at similar rates as the “rest of the electorate.” He said the state didn’t have a compelling interest that would have justified the newly drawn map and thus, the map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
Justice Elena Kagan, joined by the other two liberal justices, dissented. She rejected Alito’s argument and said that the ruling makes Section 2 “all but a dead letter.” Kagan said the ruling will have far-reaching consequences and in areas where voting is racially polarized or segregated residentially, minority voters are now going to be “cracked out of the electoral system.”
Here’s what to know about the reactions to Louisiana v. Callais and what could happen for voters:
Owens, Lee, Donalds praise decision
Many members of the Republican Party celebrated the court’s decision, arguing that it is a win for the Constitution.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee shared a video online where he said the Supreme Court made the right decision.
“What the Supreme Court did today was to say that it’s not okay to engage in racial gerrymandering. Now, the government, under the constitution, is not supposed to treat you differently based on your race. Almost never is that appropriate. There are very, very few circumstances where it is, and this is not one of those,” he said.
Utah Rep. Burgess Owens issued a statement where he praised the decision and said the political left “spent decades hiding their racial obsession behind the banner of civil rights. Today, that game ends."
“The condescending assumption that Black Americans cannot compete without bureaucrats drawing lines around them is not compassion,” he said. “It is racism with different branding. I am a Black man who has never needed the government to predetermine my outcome. Neither do the voters of this country.”
Rep. Byron Donalds, the front-runner in the Republican gubernatorial primary in Florida, pointed to Rep. Owens in his statement about the ruling, saying Democrats don’t care about Black representation in Congress, just “Democrat representation.”
“Black man. Super Bowl Champion. Republican. Democrat interest groups in Utah swayed a state judge to implement new maps to get a Democrat in his congressional seat. Let’s be clear, the Democrats use the (Voting Rights Act) to protect Democrat power,” Donalds said.
Schumer, Jeffries criticize the decision
However, those on the left are decrying the court’s decision. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that the ruling was “despicable” and a “return to Jim Crow.” He said Senate Democrats will fight to reverse the decision.
“Today, the Supreme Court turned its back on one of the most sacred promises in American democracy — the promise that every voice counts,” he said in a statement. “At a moment when our democracy demands vigilance, this ruling moves us further from its promise.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Politico on Thursday that “all options are on the table” as Democrats eye several states like New York, Illinois, Maryland and Colorado that could potentially have new maps drawn ahead of the 2028 election.
Jeffries, in a statement, said the conservative court took a “blowtorch” to the Voting Rights Act in its ruling, and said House Democrats will not rest until voter suppression is gone “once and for all.”
States already acting to redraw maps
The ruling Wednesday comes as Democrats and Republicans are gridlocked in a redistricting arms race that began last year. Both parties are looking to control Congress following the November 2026 midterm elections.
The decision from justices all but ensures that the lead-up to the midterms and the several years before the next general election in 2028 will continue to see fights over map lines and power.
Immediately following the ruling, several states began to act. While it is likely too late in the year for several states to redraw their maps before 2026, many will jump into action and try anyway.
Louisiana’s early voting was set to begin Saturday, May 2 with the primary on May 16, but Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill on Thursday announced they would postpone the primary following the court’s ruling.
Voting that was already underway in some elections was immediately halted.
President Donald Trump thanked Landry for his leadership and for “moving so quickly” to fix the state’s map.
On Wednesday, Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is running for governor, urged the state legislature to reconvene and redistrict to create another Republican seat in Memphis.
Trump said he had a good conversation with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday morning where he said Lee would “work hard to correct the unconstitutional flaw” in the state’s map.
“This should give us one extra seat, and help Save our Country from the Radical Left Democrats, and their Country destroying Policies,” Trump said.
Similarly, the Florida state legislature passed a redistricting plan on Thursday in a move that would add four additional Republican leaning seats in the House. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who proposed the approved map earlier this week, shared the news online and said “another racial gerrymander bites the dust.”