The Supreme Court has struck down Louisiana's 2024 congressional map in a 6-3 decision, ruling it is "unconstitutional racial gerrymander." The Court said the Voting Rights Act "did not require Louisiana to create any additional majority-minority district," concluding that "no compelling interest justified the state's use of race in creating [the second district]."
The case, Louisiana vs. Callais, centered on whether Louisiana violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by creating a second majority-minority district. The plaintiffs argued the map unlawfully relied on race in redistricting. The clause prohibits states from denying people within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
State officials defended the map, arguing that a second majority-minority district was necessary to protect minority voters from discrimination under the Voting Rights Act. African-Americans make up a third of Louisiana’s population, and they argued that failing to adjust districts accordingly would dilute Black voting power.
The ruling carries potential national implications, particularly as states like Texas and Virginia consider mid-decade redistricting. However, Derek W. Black—a professor at the USC School of Law—said the decision is unlikely to affect South Carolina. He explained, "We've never been in a situation where the Department of Justice or [plaintiffs] have said [the failure] to have a second Black congressional district," he says, "is somehow a violation of the Voting Rights act. So, that side of the vice has never been applied to South Carolina."
Black also noted that while race-based redistricting in this context is illegal, partisan redistricting remains permissible. The Court echoed this distinction, stating the Constitution "does not intrude on states' prerogative to draw districts based on nonracial factors, including to achieve partisan advantage."
In South Carolina, Senate Republicans have already dismissed calls to redraw congressional maps mid-decade. Senate GOP Leader Shane Massey said it is "unlikely" that off-cycle redistricting will occur this legislative session.
South Carolina currently has one majority-minority congressional district, represented by Democrat Jim Clyburn. Black said the structure of Clyburn’s district benefits Republicans overall, arguing it “benefits them politically [because] they're packing more Black voters and more democrats,” which increases Republican advantage in other districts.
Following the ruling, Clyburn criticized the decision, saying it is "a giant step backward." He added, "This Court seems hellbent on redeeming the post-Reconstruction America that neutered the 1875 Civil Rights Act and other legislative and judicial actions that drastically limited Black participation."
Overall, legal experts say the decision makes it more difficult for plaintiffs to "challenge redistricting plans that disparately impact them," according to Black.
