Supreme Court Restricts Race-Based Redistricting in Louisiana Case

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 limited the use of race-based redistricting in a legal challenge to Louisiana’s congressional map. The nation’s highest court ruled 6–3 in Louisiana v. Callais that race could not be used when drawing boundaries for the state’s electoral districts. The case rests on whether a lower court-ordered creation of a second black-majority congressional district in Louisiana was constitutional. A federal district judge had ordered the state to create the second district to comply with the anti-discrimination provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act. A group of non-black voters sued, arguing that the map with two black-majority districts discriminated against non-minorities by engaging “in explicit, racial segregation of voters.”...