“The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map Wednesday, finding the Pelican State unconstitutionally added a second majority-black House district in a major decision that is likely to pave the way for Republicans to make major redistricting gains across southern states.”

“Louisiana had been forced by a federal judge to create a second majority-black district in 2024 to comply with Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA), which restricts states from diluting minority votes.”

“The Trump administration and state officials challenged the new map, arguing it was a racial gerrymander in violation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees all citizens equal protection under the law.”

“The high court agreed, with all six conservative justices voting to get rid of the 2024 boundaries.”

“However, the majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito stopped short of finding Section 2 of the VRA unconstitutional, as many activists had feared.”

“Instead, the Supreme Court for the first time explicitly held that compliance with Section 2 can “provide a compelling reason for race-based districting” — but Louisiana’s situation did not meet that bar.”

““In short, [Section 2] imposes liability only when the evidence supports a strong inference that the State intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race,” Alito wrote.”

“Alito’s ruling relied heavily on 1986’s Thornburg v. Gingles, which laid out four criteria for courts to determine whether a state needs to redraw its districts due to a Section 2 violation: Geographic distribution of minority voters, whether a district is “reasonably configured,” whether the minority group votes as a bloc, and the “totality of the circumstances.””