Supreme Court raises the stakes in a Louisiana redistricting case

The Supreme Court expanded the scope of a Louisiana congressional redistricting case that could further weaken the landmark Voting Rights Act.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday expanded the scope of a Louisiana congressional redistricting dispute that has been pending for months by ordering new briefing on a legal question that could further weaken the landmark Voting Rights Act.

The court issued an order asking the lawyers to address whether, in seeking to comply with the 1965 law that protects minority voting rights, Louisiana violated the Constitution's 14th and 15th Amendments enacted after the Civil War to ensure Black people were treated equally under the law.

If the court rules that the state did violate the Constitution, it would mean states cannot cite the need to comply with the Voting Rights Act if they use race as a consideration during the map-drawing process, as they currently can.

Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the UCLA School of Law, wrote on his Election Law Blog that the order "appears to put the constitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act into question." That provision bars voting practices or rules that discriminate against minority groups.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority is often receptive to arguments that the Constitution is “colorblind,” meaning no consideration of race can ever be lawful even if it is aimed at remedying past discrimination. In 2013, the court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in a case from Alabama and further weakened it in a 2021 case from Arizona.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-raises-stakes-louisiana-redistricting-case-rcna222580


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