"The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in Louisiana v. Callais, a case about whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prevents white people from overrepresenting themselves in Congress. Oral arguments can sometimes sound like the justices are deliberating great and technical points of law, but the outcome in this case was decided long before the lawyers arrived at the courthouse."
"At issue were maps for Congressional districts in Louisiana. The state has six Congressional districts. After the 2020 Census, the state produced a map where five of those districts were majority white. But Louisiana is only 56 percent white, and 31 percent Black. Simple math should tell you that there should be at least two districts in Louisiana that are majority-minority."
"That said, if math is not your thing (and it never is for Republicans when the math doesn't result in their supremacy over others), then the Voting Rights Act and the 15th Amendment should be. Section 2 of the VRA allows the federal courts to intervene when a state discriminates against the voting rights of Black people. Louisiana was sued by the NAACP after the 2020 census, and a court ordered the state to redraw its maps, producing two majority-minority districts."
The Supreme Court considered Louisiana v. Callais, a case about whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prevents white voters from overrepresenting themselves in Congress. Louisiana's post-2020 map had five majority-white districts despite the state being 56 percent white and 31 percent Black, prompting legal challenges. The NAACP sued and a court ordered a redrawn map creating two majority-minority districts. A group of white plaintiffs then sued, claiming the VRA-based remedial map violated their constitutional rights by reducing their overrepresentation. The Court's six Republican justices appear poised to limit or neutralize Section 2, allowing dilution of Black voting rights through gerrymandering.
Read at The Nation
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