January 10, 2026
The number of Black members of Congress could see a historic decline, depending on how the conservative-led Supreme Court rules in a key redistricting case.
America could face its steepest drop in Black congressional representation yet, depending on how the Supreme Court rules on a redistricting case in Louisiana.
The Supreme Court is nearing a decision on a Louisiana redistricting case that could undercut Section 2 protections of the Voting Rights Act, NPR reports. If the conservative-majority court rules against the current map in Louisiana v. Callais, at least 15 congressional districts now represented by Black lawmakers could be threatened.
For decades, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has helped increase Black representation in the House by ensuring districts are drawn so racial-minority voters have a real chance to elect their preferred candidates, particularly in Southern states with racially polarized voting. But, at an October hearing, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaled openness to Louisiana Republicans’ argument that race should play no role in redistricting.
Opponents of Section 2 say race-based mapmaking should end, citing the court’s rejection of affirmative action, a view also echoed by the Trump Justice Department. If Republican-led states are no longer required to follow Section 2, many Democratic-held districts would likely disappear along with a historic drop in Black representation in Congress.
“And that is not where we should be in 2026,” said Press Robinson, a Black voter and civil rights activist in Baton Rouge.
Robinson’s Section 2 lawsuit is what initially forced Louisiana’s GOP-led legislature to redraw its congressional maps. Now, as that ruling sits at the heart of the legal fight over the state’s two majority-Black districts, Robinson warns that without Section 2 protections, Black representation in Congress and across government could be reduced to “a very minor scale.”
Court observers anticipate at least a partial conservative victory that could allow Republicans to redraw maps to their advantage by dismantling Black- and Hispanic-majority districts. Any rollback of Section 2’s redistricting protections could also threaten representation for other racial and ethnic minorities, including at the state and local levels.
“For so many of us here today, Section 2 is why we stand before you as members of the Congressional Black Caucus,” Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama said after the Supreme Court’s October hearing for the Louisiana case. “If this court strikes down these critical provisions, it would not only reverse decades of precedent, but it would also take us back to a dark time in our nation’s history, a time when discrimination against minority voters went unchecked.”
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