US Supreme Court limits use of race in drawing electoral maps
Key takeaways
- The US Supreme Court limited the ability of lawmakers to take the racial make-up of a state into account when drawing voting maps, in a ruling that could reshape politics across the American south.
- In a 6-3 decision, the conservative justices sided with a challenge to new districts in Louisiana that were created to comply with a landmark Civil Rights law meant to protect black Americans from racial discrimination.
- The court majority did not take that position, but its decision will make it significantly more difficult to successfully challenge legislative maps for diluting the voting power of racial minorities.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
The US Supreme Court limited the ability of lawmakers to take the racial make-up of a state into account when drawing voting maps, in a ruling that could reshape politics across the American south.
In a 6-3 decision, the conservative justices sided with a challenge to new districts in Louisiana that were created to comply with a landmark Civil Rights law meant to protect black Americans from racial discrimination.
The way courts have previously interpreted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court's majority opinion, has sometimes forced states "to engage in the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids".