The Supreme Court sided with a lower federal judge’s decision that Louisiana had likely violated the Voting Rights Act. Specifically, the decision that Louisiana is likely attempting to limit the power of the Black vote through racial gerrymandering makes it likely that voting rights advocates will successfully increase Black representation in the state. Last Monday, the Supreme Court ruled against Louisiana , which had defended itself against charges that its Republican-led government redrew the state’s district lines in such a way to limit the impact of the Black vote. Plaintiffs had argued that, given that the state’s population is one-third Black, Louisiana had engaged in illegal and racially motivated gerrymandering by drawing district lines so that only one of the state’s six congressional districts contained a majority-Black population.
