The Supreme Court is rehearing a redistricting case that could gut the Voting Rights Act, per HuffPost.
The case, Callais v. Landry (formerly Louisiana v. Callais), centers around a newly drawn congressional map that added a second majority-Black district in Louisiana, where Black residents make up one-third of the population. The map was created after a federal court ruled the original plan violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting power.
However, in a potential reversal from the ruling, the nation’s highest court will soon be weighing “whether Louisiana’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments.”
Experts are warning that the court may be preparing to strike down Section 2 entirely, a move that would dismantle protections against racially discriminatory voting practices.
Harvard law professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos compared the case to the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision that struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required states with histories of discrimination to get federal approval before changing voting laws. The ruling sparked a wave of restrictive laws across the South. Section 2, which remained intact, became the primary way to challenge voter suppression and gerrymandering.
“If this goes the way it looks like it’s going to go, it’s going to be Shelby County on steroids,” Stephanopoulos said. “This is going to be the single most catastrophic moment for minority voters since the 1870s or 1880s.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh previously signaled support for a so-called “temporal argument” in 2022, writing, “The authority to conduct race-based redistricting cannot extend indefinitely into the future.”
Without Section 2, Black and Latino majority districts could be erased across the country.
“We would quickly see a return to all-white congressional delegations,” Stephanopoulos said. “This would be a much bigger deal than Shelby County. It would apply nationwide.”
The court is set to hear arguments on October 15, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
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