Northwestern experts on SCOTUS striking down Louisiana voting map

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Northwestern experts on SCOTUS striking down Louisiana voting map

The 6-3 ruling could open door for Republican-led states to eliminate Black and Latino electoral districts

CHICAGO - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in Louisiana v. Callais, determining the map that Louisiana drew in 2024 to correct a previous map that was found to violate the Voting Rights Act is "an unconstitutional racial gerrymander."

State officials created the second majority Black district after the 2020 U.S. Census determined that the state was made up of one-third Black residents, a move to better reflect its constituency. Soon after, a group of voters, describing themselves as "non-African American," challenged the new map, calling it unconstitutional. The conservative majority of the Court agreed, saying the new district relied heavily on race.

Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, dissented, with Kagan saying: "I dissent from this latest chapter in the majority's now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act… I dissent because the Court betrays its duty to faithfully implement the great statute Congress wrote. I dissent because the Court's decision will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity. I dissent."

The following professors are available to media:

Michael Kang is the Class of 1940 Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. He is a nationally recognized expert on campaign finance, voting rights, redistricting, judicial elections and corporate governance.

Chika Okafor is an assistant professor of law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. He is a law, economics and inequality scholar who teaches constitutional law and climate/energy law. Professor Okafor is not available on April 29. He has availability 4/30 and 5/1.

To set up an interview with Professors Kang or Okafor, please reach out to Shanice Harris at [email protected].

Alvin Tillery is professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy at Northwestern University. His research and teaching interests are in the fields of American politics and political theory. His research in American politics focuses on American political development, racial and ethnic politics and media and politics.

Quote from Professor Tillery:

"For two generations, both political parties at the federal level have worked to counter the suppression of Black voting rights and representation by supporting the Voting Rights Act. Since the Shelby County v. Holder decision, the conservative majorities on the Roberts court have shown a callous disregard for the lived experiences of those communities who suffered under our nation's racial dictatorship between 1896 and 1965. Today, that majority completes work that will mark them in history alongside the majority in Dred Scott.

"This is a plainly wrong decision that demonstrates their worship of power over their professed idol of 'originalism.' As Justice Kagan made clear in her dissent, the legislators who passed the Voting Rights Act understood unambiguously that minority communities would be harmed by gerrymandering that failed to account for the impacts on racialized minorities. Today, the Roberts court has destroyed one of the greatest laws passed in the history of this republic under the sophomoric reasoning that protecting Black voters from the racism of white legislators in red states is somehow racist against white people.

"This is an infamous decision - one that will further contribute to democratic backsliding in the United States and cement this Courts legacy as an institution that chose power over principle at the most consequential moments in our history."

To set up an interview with Professor Tillery, please reach out to [email protected] or by contacting [email protected].