Supreme Court restricts voting rights in controversial landmark ruling

The Supreme Court handed down its hotly anticipated decision in Callais v. Louisiana, weakening — but not completely eliminating — Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which regulates the drawing of districts based on race.

The case came about as a result of lower-court rulings that had forced Louisiana to draw a second majority-Black district, which Republicans had challenged.

In a 6-3 decision that cut on ideological lines and was authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the ruling declared that there is still a compelling legal interest in helping racial minorities get representation — but that lower-court rulings that required the state of Louisiana to draw an additional majority-Black district were not required by the Voting Rights Act, and therefore the case will be sent back down to lower courts to review.

“Because the Voting Rights Act did not require Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district, no compelling interest justified the State’s use of race in creating SB8, and that map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander,” stated the decision.

The ruling technically leaves Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in place, but adopts a narrower view of it that legal experts expect will make it significantly harder to challenge racial gerrymanders.