The United States Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana’s electoral map was unconstitutionally drawn to create two Black-majority districts.The decision announced on Thursday represented a major reinterpretation of the landmark US Voting Rights Act, in particular, its provision meant to protect minority voters from having their political power diluted. It is set to benefit Republicans amid a wider battle over congressional redistricting before the midterm elections in November.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listIn the 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority held that a map that created two Black-majority congressional districts in Louisiana was unconstitutional.The map had initially been drawn by Louisiana’s Republican-controlled state legislature following the 2020 census. It contained only one Black-majority district out of six total districts, despite Black residents making up a third of the state’s population. A group of voters challenged the map, arguing that its composition weakened Black voters’ electoral strength.A federal judge initially sided with the challengers, ruling the map likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The legislation was passed in 1965 amid the US civil rights movement and sought to respond to the historic disenfranchisement of Black voters in several states. Section 2 has long been interpreted to prohibit electoral maps that would result in diluting the electoral power of minority voters, even without direct proof of racist intent.However, Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling, writ …
