Justices signal weakening of the Voting Rights Act

If high court rejects race in redistricting, it would bolster GOP in next year’s midterms.

- By Davin G. SAVAGE

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court may help the GOP keep control of the House of Representatives next year by clearing the way for Republican-led states to redraw election districts now held by Black Democrats.

That prospect formed the backdrop on Wednesday as the justices debated the future of the Voting Rights Act in a case from Louisiana.

The court's six conservatives, all Republican appointees, sounded ready to rein in the historic civil rights measure on the grounds that it forces Southern states to draw some election districts along racial lines.

That's because “racially polarized” voting is still the norm there, said Janai Nelson, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “No Black person has ever been elected statewide in Louisiana,” she told the court.

Now, the state's Republican leaders “seek a staggering reversal of precedent that would throw maps across the country into chaos,” she said.

Only the court's three liberals appeared to agree.

At issue before the court is a second Black-majority district in Louisiana, but the outcome could have a significant political impact in Washington. Next year’s midterm elections will determine whether Democrats can retake control of the House.

A broad ruling that rejects the use of race in redistricting could cast doubt on the congressional districts now held by Black Democrats in solidly Republican states.

This will not “lead to there being no Black representation in Congress,” a Trump administration lawyer assured the court. There are “only 15 majority-Black districts” that may be threatened, he said.

Several justices on the right said that state lawmakers are entitled to draw districts with an eye to “partisan advantage.”