Supreme Court signals it may rule on law protecting power of minority voters

Washington Post

3 days ago

The Supreme Court has signaled that it may rule on the constitutionality of a key section of the landmark Voting Rights Act that allows states to draw majority-minority voting districts mainly to protect the power of Black and Hispanic voters.
The justices on Friday evening asked opposing parties in a battle over a Louisiana voting map to submit briefs addressing whether the state's creation of a second Black majority congressional district violated constitutional provisions that require all people to be treated equally. The district covers areas stretching from Shreveport to Baton Rouge.
'The stakes here are enormous,' Rick Hasen, a law professor at UCLA and an expert on election law, wrote on his blog.
Black voters and civil rights groups sued Louisiana in 2022 under the Voting Rights Act, saying the state's then new congressional map diluted their voting power. One of six congressional districts consisted of a majority-minority population in a state where roughly a third of voters are Black. That district covers New Orleans and parts of Baton Rouge.
The Voting Rights Act allows states in some circumstances to consider race in drawing districts as a means to redress discriminatory electoral practices, but maps that are explicitly based on race violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. States must carefully thread those competing directives.
Federal courts ruled for the plaintiffs in the Louisiana case, and the state redrew the map in 2024, creating the second majority-Black congressional district. A group of self-described 'non-African American' voters then sued, claiming the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that violated the Equal Protection Clause.
The case made its way to the Supreme Court last term, but the justices put off a decision to allow for additional briefing. The order issued on Friday clarified the legal issues the court wanted to consider more fully. The court is likely to decide the case during its next term, which begins in October.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which is one of the cornerstones of civil rights era law, prohibits racial discrimination in voting practices. States have long drawn majority-minority districts to meet its provisions and protect minority voters against gerrymandered maps that diminish their power.
'What the Court seems to be asking, without directly saying it, is whether Section 2 of the VRA, at least as to how it has been applied to require the creation of majority-minority districts in some circumstances, violates a colorblind understanding of the Constitution,' Hasen wrote.
A broad ruling by the court striking down the second Black majority district in Louisiana could pare back the use of race-based redistricting. The case could also affect the balance of power in a closely divided Congress. Currently, the newly created second majority Black district is held by a Democrat.
In 2013, a divided Supreme Court invalidated another important part of the Voting Rights Act, which required certain mostly Southern states with a history of discriminatory voting practices to get federal clearance before changing voting rules. The states included Louisiana.
In 2023, the high court prohibited Alabama from using a voting map that the justices found unlawfully diminished the power of Black voters.