The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday (April 29) to strike down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana, a decision that weakens protections for Black voters under the Voting Rights Act.

The court ruled 6-3 that the Louisiana district represented by Democratic Representative Cleo Fields relied too heavily on race and voted to eliminate it, according to The Associated Press.

The congressional map was originally crafted by the Republican-dominated Louisiana Legislature in 2024, following a Supreme Court ruling upholding a majority-Black district in Alabama.

When Fields won the district in that year's elections, it marked the second time in nearly 50 years that a Democrat had won the district, which stretched from Baton Rouge to Shreveport. Black voters made up about 54% of the district, per AP.

While the Supreme Court had previously allowed the state of Louisiana to use the map in 2024, overriding a lower court ruling deeming it illegal gerrymandering, the court’s conservative majority moved to reverse course on Wednesday.

Justice Samuel Alito argued that the Section 2 Voting Rights Act of 1965, which bans racially discriminatory voting procedures, did not require the state of Louisiana to create a second majority-minority district, making it unconstitutional for the state to draw up the district on the basis of race.

“Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed to enforce the Constitution — not collide with it,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, lower courts have sometimes applied this Court’s precedents in a way that forces States to engage in the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids.”

He clarified that Section 2 should be limited only to instances of “intentional discrimination,” such as a state legislature purposefully rejecting maps with majority-minority districts without good reason.

The court’s decision has the potential to significantly reduce minority representation nationwide as state legislatures move to adopt the ruling's provisions.

Justice Elena Kagan, one of three Democratic-appointed justices, wrote in her dissent that the ruling renders Section 2 “all but a dead letter” and that the consequences “are likely to be far-reaching and grave.”

“The Callais requirements have thus laid the groundwork for the largest reduction in minority representation since the era following Reconstruction,” she wrote.

The ruling comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s order to Republican-led states nationwide to redraw district lines to favor the party and boost its chances in the midterms.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposed a new congressional map on Monday (April 27) that could grant Republicans four extra seats in the House come November, despite the state constitution prohibiting partisan-based gerrymandering.

The map passed in the Florida House within hours of the Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana by a vote of 83-28, and is on its way to the Senate, according to Florida Phoenix. DeSantis took to X to comment on the Supreme Court ruling following approval of the new map.

“Called this one months ago,” he wrote. “The decision implicates a district in FL — the legal infirmities of which have been corrected in the newly-drawn (and soon to be enacted) map.”

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