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Louisiana officials made clear Thursday that the state’s primaries will be postponed so lawmakers can draw a new congressional map in response to Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act.
The legal cases are primarily concentrated in the South, where America’s legacy of racial discrimination still casts the longest shadow over voting rights.
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the landmark civil rights law that restricted racial gerrymandering and racial discrimination in voting for more than fifty years.
When Louisiana passed its proof of citizenship law in 2024, the state asked the EAC to approve state-specific language for the federal voter registration form that explains applicants need to provide the appropriate documentation when registering to vote.
Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris shares her concerns about the fate of the Voting Rights Act during her talk at the National Action Network convention.
As the 2026 election approaches, the GOP’s Trump-driven gerrymander campaign isn’t just unfolding in state legislatures. It’s also playing out in federal courtrooms where challenges to new congressional maps will be decided.
Louisiana Republicans enacted a law delaying next year’s elections ahead of a looming U.S. Supreme Court decision that could upend the state’s congressional map by weakening the Voting Rights Act’s protections for minority voters.
In red states across the country, GOP lawmakers and officials took a range of steps to move forward with their gerrymanders. Together, the moves suggest that, even leaving the Supreme Court aside, Republicans have abandoned any remaining political or moral qualms about drawing maps that maximize their advantage — with potentially dire consequences for the future of fair elections.
If the court strikes down or significantly weakens Section 2, as looks likely, it would decimate the remainder of one of the most important civil rights laws in U.S. history, and give states carte blanche to draw electoral maps that eviscerate the political power of minority voters.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, a case that could decide the fate of the Voting Rights Act’s most powerful remaining provision, Section 2.