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President Donald Trump on Wednesday applauded a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Louisiana congressional map, calling the ruling a victory for equal protection under the law.
The court ruled 6-3 that the map constituted unconstitutional racial gerrymandering, narrowing the scope of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as it applies to redistricting.
“Today’s 6-3 Supreme Court decision in the Callais case is a BIG WIN for Equal Protection under the Law, as it returns the Voting Rights Act to its Original Intent, which was to protect against intentional Racial Discrimination,” President Trump wrote on social media. “Thank you to brilliant Justice Samuel Alito for authoring this important and appropriate Opinion. Congratulations!”
The case centered on whether Louisiana’s revised congressional map, adopted in 2024, improperly relied on race in drawing district lines. The map created a second majority-Black district after courts had previously found the state’s earlier map likely violated federal law.
Writing for the majority, Samuel Alito said the Constitution generally prohibits racial discrimination in government decision-making.
“The Constitution almost never permits the Federal Government or a State to discriminate on the basis of race,” Alito wrote.
He said the key issue was “whether compliance with the Voting Rights Act should be added to our very short list of compelling interests that can justify racial discrimination.”
Alito concluded that the evidence presented did not demonstrate that the Voting Rights Act required Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district.
“In sum,” he wrote, “because the Voting Rights Act did not require Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district, no compelling interest justified the State’s use of race in creating [the new district]. That map is an unconstitutional gerrymander, and its use would violate the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.”
The ruling follows a series of legal battles over Louisiana’s congressional maps, beginning with a 2022 plan that included one majority-Black district. After challenges from voters, lower courts ordered the state to redraw the map, leading to the version ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court.