Supreme Court 6-3 Guts Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais — Trump's Judiciary Majority Rewrites Racial Redistricting Law

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 29, 2026 issued a 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais — written by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by all five other conservatives — striking down Louisiana's majority-Black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and sharply curtailing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Alito's majority held that states can 'almost never' consider race when drawing electoral maps, limiting VRA Section 2 protections to cases involving provable intentional discrimination. Civil rights experts immediately warned the ruling puts at least 15 majority-Black congressional districts across the South at legal risk. Florida's Republican-controlled legislature moved within hours to redraw state maps that could add four GOP-leaning congressional seats. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry delayed the state's May 16 primary elections to allow time to draw new maps compliant with the ruling. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the ruling 'guts Section 2's most powerful remedy' and strips millions of minority voters of their ability to elect representatives of their choice. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund called it the most devastating blow to voting rights since the Shelby County v. Holder ruling in 2013. The decision is a direct product of Trump's three Supreme Court appointments — Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett — which created the 6-3 conservative supermajority that has now reversed or curtailed Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, and the VRA in rapid succession.