US Supreme Court poised to assess validity of key voting rights law

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - The brief order issued by the court raises the stakes in a case already pending before the justices involving a legal challenge to an electoral map passed by Louisiana’s Republican-led legislature that raised the number of Black-majority US congressional districts in the state from one to two. — Reuters pic

WASHINGTON, Aug 2 — The US Supreme Court signalled yesterday that it will assess the legality of a key component of a landmark federal voting rights law, potentially giving its conservative majority a chance to gut a provision enacted 60 years ago that was intended to prevent racial discrimination in voting.

The brief order issued by the court raises the stakes in a case already pending before the justices involving a legal challenge to an electoral map passed by Louisiana’s Republican-led legislature that raised the number of Black-majority US congressional districts in the state from one to two.

The justices said they will consider whether it violates the US Constitution for states to create additional voting districts with populations that are majority Black, Hispanic or another minority as a way to remedy a judicial finding that a state’s voting map likely violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The case, due to be heard by the justices in their next term that begins in October, sets the stage for a major ruling expected by the end of June 2026 that could affect the composition of electoral districts around the United States. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

The dispute strikes at tensions between the Voting Rights Act, passed by Congress during the US civil rights era to bar racial discrimination in voting, and adhering to the constitutional principle of equal protection, which limits the application of race when the borders of electoral districts are redrawn.

Boundaries of legislative districts across the country are reconfigured to reflect population changes every decade in a process called redistricting.

The court previously heard arguments in the case in March. But in June, the justices declined to issue a ruling and indicated they would invite the parties to address additional questions.

Rick Hasen, an election law expert at UCLA, called the stakes enormous, writing in a blog post that the court seems to be asking whether the section of the Voting Rights Act at issue “violates a colorblind understanding of the Constitution.”

The action follows a major ruling by the court in 2013 in a case involving Alabama’s Shelby County that invalidated another core section of the Voting Rights Act that determined which states and locales with a history of racial discrimination need federal approval for voting rule changes affecting Black people and other minorities.

“This Court is more conservative than the Court that in 2013 struck down the other main pillar of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County case,” Hasen wrote. “This is a big, and dangerous, step toward knocking down the second pillar.” The matter is being litigated at the Supreme Court at a time when Republican President Donald Trump is taking steps to eliminate programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion that aim to promote opportunities for minorities, women, LGBT people and others.

In the Louisiana case, state officials and civil rights groups appealed a lower court’s ruling that found the map laying out the state’s six US House of Representatives districts - with two Black-majority districts, up from one previously - violated the constitutional promise of equal protection.

A group of 12 Louisiana voters identifying themselves in court papers as “non-African American” sued to block the redrawn map. A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not respond to requests to provide the racial breakdown of the plaintiffs. The state and the rights groups are seeking to preserve the map.

Black people comprise nearly a third of Louisiana’s population.

During the first round of arguments in the case in March, lawyers for Louisiana argued that the map was not drawn impermissibly by the legislature with race as the primary motivation, as the lower court found last year. The map’s design, the Republican-governed state argued, also sought to protect Republican incumbents including House Speaker Mike Johnson and No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise, who both represent districts in the state.

Black voters tend to support Democratic candidates.

Arguments in the case centered on Louisiana’s response to US District Judge Shelly Dick’s June 2022 finding that an earlier map likely violated the Voting Rights Act and whether the state relied too heavily on race in devising the remedial map.

Dick ruled that a map adopted earlier that year by the legislature that had contained only one Black-majority district unlawfully harmed Black voters. Dick ordered the addition of a second Black-majority district.

The Supreme Court in 2023 left Dick’s ruling in place, and it previously allowed the map at issue in the current case to be used in the 2024 election.

A three-judge panel in a 2-1 ruling in April 2024 found that the map relied too heavily on race in the map’s design in violation of the equal protection provision.

The Constitution’s 14th Amendment contains the equal protection language. Ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the American Civil War, the amendment addressed issues relating to the rights of formerly enslaved Black people. — Reuters