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Supreme Court signals plan to gut Voting Rights Act gerrymander protections

Source: vox.com

TL;DR

The Supreme Court ordered reargument in Louisiana v. Callais on whether a lower court's application of Voting Rights Act precedents violates the Constitution.
Louisiana drew a second Black-majority district to comply with Gingles after Milligan struck down Alabama's maps, but a district court ruled it an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
This signals the Republican majority may soon overrule Gingles and end VRA suits against racial gerrymanders that enable partisan ones.

The story at a glance

The Supreme Court issued an order in Louisiana v. Callais requiring briefs on whether a lower court order enforcing Voting Rights Act safeguards against racial gerrymandering violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments. The case involves Louisiana's congressional map with two Black-majority districts out of six, drawn after litigation found the prior map diluted Black voting power. It's being reported now because the order, issued after March oral arguments, suggests the Court plans to narrow or eliminate key VRA protections like Gingles, following its 2023 Milligan ruling. This echoes the Court's pattern in cases like Shelby County v. Holder.

Key points

In Allen v. Milligan (2023), the Court ruled 5-4 that Alabama's maps violated Section 2 of the VRA by packing Black voters into one district (14% of seats) despite their 27% share of the population, ordering a second Black-majority district; Roberts and Kavanaugh joined the liberals.
Thornburg v. Gingles (1986) sets the test for VRA racial gerrymander claims, requiring proof of racially polarized voting where minorities are cohesively Democratic and diluted by majority-white packing or cracking.
Louisiana's case mirrors Milligan: a lower court applied Gingles to require a second Black-majority district, but all six Republican justices questioned it at oral argument.
A three-judge district court struck down Louisiana's remedial map (Senate Bill 8) as a racial gerrymander, citing its 250-mile snake-like shape scooping Black populations from multiple cities.
The Court's order asks if enforcing Gingles under the VRA now breaches constitutional equal protection, hinting Roberts and Kavanaugh's Milligan votes were due to Alabama's legal errors.
In Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), the Court barred federal courts from partisan gerrymander suits, leaving VRA racial claims as the main check on extreme maps.

Details and context

The article frames Callais as revealing the Court's intent to dismantle VRA gerrymander protections amid upcoming redistricting cycles. Louisiana created its second Black-majority district after Robinson v. Landry found VRA violations, but white voters challenged it as race-driven over traditional criteria like compactness.

Historically, the Court distinguishes partisan gerrymanders (untouchable federally post-Rucho) from racial ones (limited by VRA). Gingles indirectly curbs partisan maps if they racially dilute minorities in polarized states, but the Republican majority has narrowed this via Shelby County (2013), which gutted preclearance.

Kavanaugh's Milligan concurrence questioned indefinite race-based redistricting under the VRA, even if once valid. The order suggests a majority now sees Gingles as expired, like Jim Crow conditions.

Key quotes

Chief Justice Roberts in Milligan: a lower court “faithfully applied our precedents.”
Justice Kavanaugh in Milligan: “Even if Congress in 1982 could constitutionally authorize race-based redistricting under [the VRA] for some period of time, the authority to conduct race-based redistricting [cannot extend indefinitely into the future].”

Why it matters

Overturning Gingles would remove the last major federal check on gerrymanders, letting states draw extreme partisan maps without VRA racial challenges. This concretely means fewer minority opportunities to elect preferred candidates in polarized Southern states like Louisiana, tilting House seats toward Republicans. Watch for a ruling next term that could redefine Section 2 nationwide, though it remains uncertain if Roberts or Kavanaugh fully join the conservatives.