The Supreme Court Just Gave the GOP a Massive Gift

What today's ruling actually does, why it matters more than the headlines suggest, and which states are about to redraw their maps.

On Tuesday, I wrote that the newly proposed Congressional maps in Florida were the last shoe to drop in the redistricting wars.

I was very wrong.

On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court dropped its decision in Louisiana v. Callais. Here’s how Politico described the 6-3 ruling:

The Supreme Court significantly narrowed a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in a 6-3 ruling Wednesday, further eroding the impact of the landmark civil rights-era law.

For decades, Section 2 — a provision that broadly outlawed discrimination in voting on the basis of race — has been interpreted to allow, and sometimes demand, the use of race-conscious data in redistricting, to protect the voting power of minorities.

But the court’s new opinion, which split the justices along ideological lines, throws into question exactly how states can utilize race in their mapmaking process. The case involves a challenge to two majority-Black districts in Louisiana.

The Court did not formally gut Section 2, as many feared it would. But this ruling is bad for democracy, voting rights, civil rights, minority representation, and the Democratic Party.

Here’s what it means for the midterms and beyond.