Democrats on Capitol Hill seethed Wednesday after the Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana violated the Constitution by drawing a majority-black congressional district predominantly on the basis of race.
The court’s 6-3 decision is expected to reverberate across the country as Republicans and Democrats battle over redistricting ahead of the 2026 midterms. Writing for the majority, conservative Justice Samuel Alito said the Voting Rights Act does not allow states to draw race-based districts for the sole purpose of making minorities the majority voting bloc.
The ruling is likely to benefit Republicans, potentially opening the door for GOP-led states to redraw maps that had been crafted to create minority-majority seats.
Democrats, who have often relied on minority-majority districts, especially in deep red states, sounded off shortly after the ruling was handed down, with party leaders claiming it would weaken protections for black voters.
“The Supreme Court just turned its back on one of the most sacred promises in American democracy — the promise that every voice counts,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “The consequence is as clear as it is dangerous: fewer protections for voters, more power for politicians to draw maps that silence them, particularly voters historically disenfranchised.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) went further, accusing Republicans of trying to tilt the political playing field.
“Voter suppression is a way of life for Donald Trump and far-right extremists on the Supreme Court,” Jeffries said. “Republicans know they cannot win a free and fair election in November and so they are desperate to rig it. We will never let them succeed.”
New York Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, called the Supreme Court “rogue” and argued its decision “effectively signed the death certificate of the Voting Rights Act, undoing decades of Black progress.”
“The legitimacy of the Supreme Court has been deeply undermined by this decision,” Clarke added. “At its best, the Court has worked to expand our fundamental rights, but this ruling reflects a malignant impulse to reshape American society.”
Former President Barack Obama also condemned the court over the decision, saying it “serves as just one more example of how a majority of the current Court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach.”
In his opinion, Alito wrote that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is meant to prevent states from “intentionally [drawing] its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race.” While the ruling does not overturn Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, liberal Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent that it is now a “dead letter.”
The decision could lead to multiple states revisiting congressional maps that were designed to create majority-black or Hispanic districts. Some Republicans have already urged GOP-led states in the deep South to redraw those lines.
The court’s ruling comes as Republicans and Democrats are already in the middle of a redistricting fight ahead of the 2026 midterms. Republican-dominated states like South Carolina and Tennessee — both of which contain minority-majority districts — could draw new maps before the midterm elections following the ruling.
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