There's no way to sugarcoat this, John: Louisiana is asking the Supreme Court to gut the central provision of the Voting Rights Act and ban any use of race in redistricting.
In a legal brief filed this week, the state urged the Supreme Court to overturn a landmark 1986 ruling that established a legal test for when a voting map illegally dilutes minorities’ voter power. That ruling, Thornburg v. Gingles, has been understood for decades to require that states with significant communities of minority voters draw districts that fairly reflect their voting power.
Louisiana also told the Supreme Court it has made the decision not to defend the state’s current congressional map from 2024. That map contains two majority-Black districts among the state’s six House seats. This unusual move comes as the state claims it was "coerced" into complying with the Voting Rights Act.
This is exactly why the Supreme Court held this case over from last year. Chief Justice John Roberts has been working to gut the VRA for more than a decade. The VRA's provision against racial gerrymandering is one of the last major legs of the law standing.Just like the redistricting fights across the country, this is all about whether the party in power can choose their voters in order to stay in power in perpetuity.
John: We can't tolerate this kind of blatant partisanship overruling our voting rights. Stand up for fair districts in Louisiana and beyond with $25 or whatever you can today to help us fight back. Our right to vote depends on it >>
