Supreme Court Voting Rights Ruling & What It Means For Midterms

The Supreme Court has struck down another key provision of the Voting Rights Act, making it harder for voters of color to challenge redistricting plans that allegedly weaken minority political power. In a 6-3 decision led by conservative justices, the court blocked an electoral map that granted Louisiana a second Black-majority congressional district. Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion could spark efforts in several states to draw new maps before the November midterm elections. Republican officials who control the state government in Louisiana have not yet indicated how they will respond. State Attorney General Liz Murrill said she will collaborate with the legislature and Governor Jeff Landry to develop a “constitutionally compliant map.” In Florida, lawmakers approved new congressional districts devised by GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, intended to secure 24 out of 28 House seats for Republicans this fall. The Supreme Court’s ruling is likely to bolster DeSantis’s position in defending the map against anticipated legal challenges. His legal team cited the upcoming voting rights decision as a reason for proceeding with mid-decade redistricting. The ruling overturns four decades of legal precedent, undermining Congress’s original goal for the VRA to address both intentional and unintentional racial discrimination in redistricting. In his opinion, Alito wrote that VRA plaintiffs can only succeed “when circumstances give rise to a strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred.” Although he claimed that the court was stopping short of requiring proof of “intentional discrimination,” he greatly limited the types of evidence plaintiffs can use. This ruling also increases partisan gerrymandering’s power to block Voting Rights Act claims, following a 2019 Supreme Court decision that barred federal courts from intervening in partisan gerrymandering.