Supreme Court Curbs Use of Race in Drawing Voting Districts

The US Supreme Court sharply limited the use of the Voting Rights Act to create predominantly Black or Hispanic election districts in a major ruling that buttresses Republican efforts to keep control of the House in this year’s midterms and beyond.

Voting 6-3 along ideological lines, the justices on Wednesday rejected a Louisiana congressional map that was drawn with a second majority-Black district after a lower court found an earlier set of lines to be discriminatory. Writing for the court, Justice Samuel Alito said the current map was an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”