Southern Republicans Move to Erase Majority-Black Congressional Districts After Supreme Court Ruling

An archipelago of majority-Black congressional districts exists across the American South, providing critical representation in Congress. These districts were established through a mix of electoral math, federal court orders, and legislative compromises. Now, Republicans are poised to dismantle them.

Last week’s Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais triggered a legislative frenzy, with Republicans in over half a dozen states rushing to redraw their congressional maps—even mid-election in some cases. Their objective: eliminate as many majority-Black districts as possible to strengthen the GOP’s chances in the November midterms and jeopardize the future of multiracial democracy in the South.

Louisiana Leads the Charge

Following the 2020 Census, a federal district court struck down Louisiana’s revised congressional map and ordered the state to create a second majority-minority district under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). A group of plaintiffs, identifying as “non-African American,” then sued, arguing the court-ordered map amounted to racial gerrymandering and violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court sided with Louisiana, effectively gutting Section 2 of the VRA. The implications were immediate.

“After today, those districts exist only on sufferance, and probably not for long,” Justice Elena Kagan warned in her dissent. “If other states follow Louisiana’s lead, the minority citizens residing there will no longer have an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. And minority representation in government institutions will sharply decline.”

Election Chaos in Louisiana

Early voting for Louisiana’s congressional primaries was already underway when the ruling was issued, with over 40,000 mail ballots reportedly cast. Undeterred, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry issued an executive order to pause the elections so lawmakers could redraw the map, eliminating at least one majority-Black district.

A group of Louisiana voters filed a lawsuit to resume the election, but courts have yet to block the executive order. The Supreme Court further expedited the process, issuing its mandate immediately—bypassing the usual month-long wait—sparking rare criticism from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“Not content to have decided the law, it now takes steps to influence its implementation,” Justice Jackson wrote. “The court’s decision to buck our usual practice under Rule 45.3 and issue the judgment forthwith is tantamount to an approval of Louisiana’s rush to pause the ongoing election in order to pass a new map.”

Justice Samuel Alito, author of the Callais decision, responded with a statement joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, accusing Jackson of favoring “unthinking compliance” with the court’s rules.