Supreme Court weighs whether to remove key provision from landmark Voting Rights Act

WASHINGTON — The conservative-majority Supreme Court will consider Wednesday whether to eviscerate a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act in a Louisiana congressional redistricting case.

The justices, who expanded the scope of the case over the summer, will hear oral arguments on whether states can ever consider race in drawing new districts while seeking to comply with Section 2 of the 1965 law, which was enacted amid historic racial discrimination to protect minority voters.

The long-running dispute involves the congressional map that Louisiana had to redraw last year after being sued under the Voting Rights Act to ensure there were two majority-black districts. The original map had just one such district in a state where a third of the population is black.

The Supreme Court initially heard the case earlier this year on a narrower set of legal issues, but in a rare move in June asked the parties to reargument the case. The court then upped the ante by asking lawyers to focus on a broader constitutional question.

Now, judges will have to decide whether drawing a map to ensure the existence of majority-black districts violates the Constitution’s 14th and 15th Amendments, both of which were passed after the Civil War to guarantee equal rights to former slaves, including the right to vote.

Conservatives argue that both constitutional amendments prohibit consideration of race at any time. The Supreme Court has already adopted this “color-blind” interpretation of the Constitution, notably in its 2023 decision that ended the consideration of race in college admissions.

Louisiana, which initially defended its new map, switched sides and joined a group of self-identified “non-African American” voters who sued to block it on constitutional grounds. The Trump administration also supports the state’s new position.

The map is defended by civil rights groups who challenged the original map.

The Voting Rights Act has long been the target of conservative legal attacks, with the Supreme Court weakening it in two major rulings in 2013 and 2021.

But two years ago, the court surprisingly reaffirmed the requirement that race be used to redraw districts when necessary to comply with the law in another congressional redistricting case in Alabama.

The decision was 5-4, with two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joining the court’s three liberals in the majority. Kavanaugh, however, expressed reservations about the long-term future of Section 2.

A broad ruling in Louisiana’s favor would reduce the need for states to draw legislative districts made up largely of minority groups and would likely lead to a reduction in the number of minority lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures.

A quick decision could give Louisiana and other states time to draw new districts before the 2026 midterm elections. Because black voters often vote Democratic, such a move could benefit Republicans.