Key Facts

• The ruling in Louisiana v. Callais struck down a part of the VRA aimed at protecting minority voters from having their power reduced by electoral maps.
• The decision was made by a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, with the conservative justices in the majority.
• The court said creating a second majority-Black voting district in Louisiana was unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
• This ruling follows previous decisions by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito that have weakened the VRA over the past decade.
• In 2013, the Roberts court ended federal oversight of voting changes in southern states, a major blow to the VRA.
• The Voting Rights Act was originally passed in 1965 to stop racial discrimination in elections.
• Justices Roberts and Alito have a shared conservative background, both having worked in President Reagan’s Justice Department before joining the Supreme Court.
• Liberal justices dissented, saying the ruling harms minority voters and contradicts the original purpose of the equal protection clause in the US Constitution.