Supreme Court VRA ruling encourages new redistricting, more uncertainty ahead of November

The Supreme Court’s decision to throw out Louisiana’s congressional maps — and weaken the Voting Rights Act in the process — is throwing a wrench into an already-turbulent midterm cycle as more states prepare to hold their primaries in the coming weeks. 

Louisiana officials announced they would be delaying congressional primaries — slated to start next month — in response to the high court’s decision on Wednesday that the Bayou State’s House map was an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” 

Some Republicans are already pushing to make last-minute changes elsewhere, too, including in Tennessee and potentially Alabama.

But experts warn that changing congressional maps and primary dates months before the November elections will create a host of problems for candidates, election officials and voters at a time when public trust in elections is dwindling.

“It will also have an impact on just how people view democracy — not deriving from the authority of the voters, but more just one big game to be manipulated,” said former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer (R), who challenged Republican claims of election fraud in his county.

Conservatives cheered the Supreme Court’s recent decision to reject Louisiana’s House map, which was initially required to create two Black-majority House districts. The ruling also makes it significantly more difficult for states to consider race in redistricting.

The country was already mired in a redistricting battle between the two parties. Republican-led states like Texas, Missouri and North Carolina redrew their House maps ahead of the midterms at the behest of President Trump and the national party. In response, Democrats passed new maps in California and Virginia to counter those GOP gains.

Litigation is still playing out in some states over whether new congressional lines will be adopted in time for the midterms. 

The Supreme Court’s ruling over the Louisiana maps, however, turbocharged Republican redistricting efforts, with some members of the party immediately calling for other GOP-led states that had the ability to redraw their states’ maps and change primary dates before the midterms to do so. 

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