Supreme Court weakens the Voting Rights Act and aids GOP efforts to
control the House
[April 30, 2026]
By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday hollowed out a landmark
Civil Rights-era law that has increased minority representation in
Congress and elsewhere, striking down a majority Black congressional
district in Louisiana and opening the door for more redistricting across
the country that could aid Republican efforts to control the House.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court’s conservative majority found that the
Louisiana district represented by Democrat Cleo Fields relied too
heavily on race. Chief Justice John Roberts had described the 6th
Congressional District as a “snake” that stretches more than 200 miles
(320 kilometers) to link parts of Shreveport, Alexandria, Lafayette and
Baton Rouge.
“That map is an unconstitutional gerrymander,” Justice Samuel Alito
wrote for the six conservatives.
The effect of the ruling may be felt more strongly in 2028 because most
filing deadlines for this year's congressional races have passed.
Louisiana, though, may have to change its redistricting plan to comply
with the decision.
It is unclear how much of the provision — known as Section 2 of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 — remains.
When he signed the bill —the main way to challenge racially
discriminatory election practices —into law more than 60 years ago,
President Lyndon Johnson called it “a triumph for freedom as huge as any
victory on any battlefield.”
In her dissent for the three liberal justices, Justice Elena Kagan wrote
that the court's “gutting of Section 2 puts that achievement in peril.”
Her sentiment was shared by former President Barack Obama, who said the
decision showed “how a majority of the current Court seems intent on
abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our
democracy.”
In a statement, Fields said the decision's "practical effect is to make
it far harder for minority communities to challenge redistricting maps
that dilute their political voice.”
Potential political fallout
The voting rights law succeeded in opening the ballot box to Black
Americans and reducing persistent discrimination in voting. Nearly 70 of
the 435 congressional districts are protected by Section 2, election law
expert Nicholas Stephanopoulos has estimated.
Alito wrote that "allowing race to play any part in government
decisionmaking represents a departure from the constitutional rule that
applies in almost every other context.” He said Section 2 is effectively
limited to instances of intentional discrimination, a very high
standard.
Kagan said the upshot of the decision is that states "can, without legal
consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power.”
Reaction to the decision broke along partisan lines.
“This is a complete and total victory for American voters. The color of
one’s skin should not dictate which congressional district you belong
in. We commend the court for putting an end to the unconstitutional
abuse of the Voting Rights Act and protecting civil rights,” White House
spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote in an email.
The chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called the
decision “appalling.” Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state said it was
the latest in a long line of attacks by President Donald Trump and the
conservative court “against the fundamental right of every American
citizen to vote.”
She said Democrats remained poised to regain the House majority in
November “despite this corrupt and targeted assault on the voting rights
of Black and Brown Americans from the Supreme Court.”
A ruling Trump likes
Trump had touched off a nationwide redistricting competition this year
to boost Republican chances of preserving their House edge. The
president said some states should redraw their maps and he called the
decision the "kind of ruling I like.”
[to top of second column]
|
The Florida House speaks on HB1D, a redistricting bill, during a
special session of the Florida Legislature, Wednesday, April 29,
2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Legislatures already are free to draw extremely partisan districts
because of a 2019 Supreme Court decision.
Wednesday's ruling came out as Florida legislators debated a proposed
redrawing of the state’s congressional lines, submitted by Republican
Gov. Ron DeSantis and intended to give the GOP a chance to pick up as
many as four seats in the state’s U.S. House delegation.
Democrats in the Florida Senate urged the Republican supermajority to
delay debate, at least long enough to allow lawmakers to read the
decision and consult lawyers about how it might affect DeSantis’
proposal. Republicans refused and the Legislature approved the new map.
In the Supreme Court's Louisiana ruling, the justices did an about-face
from a decision in a similar case from Alabama less than three years ago
that led to a new congressional map for the state that sent two Black
Democrats to Congress.
The Alabama decision also prompted Louisiana lawmakers to add a second
majority Black district. About a third of Louisianans are Black and they
now form majorities in two of the state’s six congressional districts.
Alabama has a separate appeal pending at the Supreme Court
Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the three liberals to form a
majority in the Alabama case, the same term in which the
conservative-dominated court ended affirmative action in college
admissions. Both joined Alito's opinion Wednesday.
Roberts has long eyed Voting Rights Act
The chief justice has been at the center of the effort to limit the use
of race in public life. He has had the Voting Rights Act in his sights
since his time as a young lawyer in the Reagan-era Justice Department.
“It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race,” Roberts wrote in
a dissenting opinion in 2006 in his first major voting rights case as
chief justice.
In 2013, Roberts wrote for the majority in gutting the law’s requirement
that states and local governments with a history of discrimination,
mostly in the South, get approval before making any election-related
changes.
“Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting
is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to
remedy that problem speaks to current conditions,” Roberts wrote.
Barring extraordinary action, the broader impact probably will be felt
in 2028, when Republicans potentially can replace more than a dozen
Democratic-held House districts that were previously protected under the
Voting Rights Act.
“The Voting Rights Act as a means to protect minority voters from vote
dilution is essentially dead,” said Jonathan Cervas, a political
scientist at Carnegie Mellon University who has served as an outside
legal expert in multiple Voting Rights Act cases.
___
Associated Press writers Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, La., Nicholas
Riccardi in Denver, Bill Barrow in Tallahassee, Fla., and Lisa Mascaro
and Seung Ming Kim contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
