The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on April 29, 2026, that Louisiana’s congressional map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, striking down the state’s second majority-Black district in a landmark decision that weakened voting rights protections. The decision in Louisiana v. Callais, written by Justice Samuel Alito, raised the bar for proving racial vote dilution under the Voting Rights Act and signaled a major shift in how courts will evaluate redistricting challenges.
The case stemmed from Louisiana’s efforts to redraw its congressional map following the 2020 census. The state’s first map, adopted in 2022, contained only one majority-Black district despite Black voters making up roughly one-third of the state’s population. A group of Black voters sued, alleging the map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting discrimination. A federal judge agreed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld that ruling, ordering Louisiana to draw a new map by January 2024.
Louisiana’s legislature responded in 2024 by creating a second majority-Black district, leading to the election that November of Cleo Fields, a former member of Congress. But this move prompted a lawsuit from a group of “non-African American” voters who contended the new map violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause by sorting voters based on race. A three-judge federal district court agreed and barred the state from using the 2024 map in future elections.
In his majority opinion, Alito argued that the Constitution “almost never permits” racial discrimination and that states must meet a high bar to show race-based redistricting is necessary to comply with the Voting Rights Act. He rewrote the legal test courts use to evaluate Section 2 claims, requiring plaintiffs to provide alternative maps that protect a state’s “legitimate goals,” such as protecting incumbents, while also creating majority-minority districts. He also required plaintiffs to prove racial bloc voting “cannot be explained by partisan affiliation,” a standard that voting rights advocates said would be nearly impossible to meet in a polarized era.
Justice Elena Kagan, in a 48-page dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, argued the majority had rendered Section 2 “all but a dead letter.” She wrote that the new requirements would “effectively insulate any practice” claimed to have a race-neutral justification, allowing states to cite partisan gerrymandering as a cover for racial discrimination. “Now, as then, vote-dilution plaintiffs will have to show more than vote dilution,” Kagan wrote, referring to pre-1982 voting rights law. “They will have to show, as well, race-based motive. Now, as then, that requirement will make success in their suits nearly impossible.”
The decision had immediate consequences. On May 29, 2026, Louisiana’s Republican lawmakers passed a new congressional map eliminating one of the state’s two majority-Black districts, effectively undoing the gains Black voters had achieved through years of litigation. Governor Jeff Landry signed the map into law, reducing the state’s majority-Black districts from two back to one.
The ruling marked the latest chapter in a decades-long effort by conservative justices to narrow voting rights protections. Earlier Supreme Court decisions, including the 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, had already weakened Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required certain jurisdictions to obtain federal approval before changing voting laws. The Callais decision further limited the tools available to voters challenging maps as racially discriminatory, shifting the burden of proof in ways that legal experts said would make successful challenges far more difficult.
Sources
- SCOTUSblog — detailed opinion analysis of Louisiana v. Callais decision and voting rights implications
- NPR — reporting on the Supreme Court’s ruling and the 2024 map’s creation of a second majority-Black district
- CBS News — coverage of the decision and its impact on Louisiana’s congressional map
- Louisiana Illuminator — reporting on the Supreme Court’s strike-down of Louisiana’s congressional map
- PBS NewsHour — coverage of Louisiana passing a new map eliminating one majority-Black district
- League of Women Voters — analysis of how the decision weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
- The National Constitution Center — explanation of the decision’s framework for racial gerrymandering
