The Supreme Court Just Gutted the Voting Rights Act. Here's What That Means for Mississippi.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning, 6-3 along ideological lines, that Louisiana's 2024 congressional map — the one drawn under federal court order to comply with the Voting Rights Act — was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The case is Louisiana v. Callais. The opinion was authored by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. Justice Kagan wrote the dissent, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson.

This is what the ruling does, who it affects, what the data says, and what it means for Mississippi specifically. We'll lay out the facts. You'll draw your own conclusions.

What the ruling actually says

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is the provision that prohibits voting practices and procedures that result in racial discrimination, including in how legislative districts are drawn. For the last 40 years, the standard for evaluating Section 2 redistricting cases has come from a 1986 Supreme Court decision called Thornburg v. Gingles. Under what's known as the Gingles framework, plaintiffs challenging a map had to show three things: that the minority group was large and geographically compact enough to form a majority in a reasonably configured district, that the minority group voted cohesively, and that the white majority voted as a bloc to defeat the minority's preferred candidate.

The Supreme Court has now updated that framework. Under the new standard, plaintiffs must lean on evidence of intentional discrimination — a substantially higher bar. The state can defend a map by claiming partisan motivations rather than racial ones. And the court has signaled that allowing race to play any part in government decision-making — including, in many cases, race-conscious compliance with the Voting Rights Act itself — is generally unconstitutional.

The court did not formally strike down Section 2. In Justice Kagan's words from the dissent, the ruling renders Section 2 all but a dead letter. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which represented the Black voters in the case, called it a seismic decision that eviscerates the Voting Rights Act.

The Louisiana facts

Louisiana has six congressional districts. The state's population is roughly one-third Black. In 2022, the Republican-controlled Louisiana Legislature drew a congressional map with one majority-Black district and five non-Black-majority districts. Black voters sued under Section 2. A federal district judge agreed that the map likely violated the Voting Rights Act. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court, in a related Alabama case (Allen v. Milligan) decided in June 2023, upheld the existing Section 2 framework. Louisiana was ordered to draw a new map.

The new map — SB 8, passed in January 2024 — included a second majority-Black district. That district, the new 6th, was drawn to follow the Red River and I-49 from Baton Rouge to Shreveport, partly because legislators wanted to preserve the seats of preferred incumbents, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. A group of self-described non-African American voters led by Phillip Callais then sued, arguing the second majority-Black district was itself a racial gerrymander.

That is the case the Supreme Court decided today.

The data on what changes

Voting rights advocacy groups Black Voters Matter Fund and Fair Fight Action published a comprehensive analysis of what would happen if Section 2 were gutted. The numbers from that analysis:

• Up to 19 additional safe Republican congressional seats could be created across affected states.
• State legislative districts where Black or Hispanic voters make up a majority could fall from 342 to 202 across 10 Southern states — a loss of 140 districts, or about two out of every five Black- or Hispanic-majority districts in the South.
• Hispanic-majority state legislative districts could drop from 69 to 56, a loss of nearly one in five.
• As much as 30% of the Congressional Black Caucus and 11% of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus could be lost.

The New York Times estimated that up to 12 House seats could flip from Democratic-leaning to Republican-leaning as a direct result of the ruling.

The 10 Southern states identified as most affected: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. The advocacy report identifies Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee as states that could lose all of their Section 2-protected congressional districts.

What this means for Mississippi specifically

Mississippi's situation has several layers, and they were already moving before the ruling came down.

The congressional layer. Mississippi has six congressional districts. Republicans hold five. The 2nd Congressional District — represented by Democrat Bennie Thompson — is the state's only majority-Black congressional district and the only one held by a Democrat. Mississippi has already held its 2026 midterm congressional primaries, which means immediate redistricting at the congressional level for 2026 is unlikely. Future cycles are another matter.

The state legislative layer. Mississippi's state House and Senate include multiple Section 2-protected majority-Black districts. The Black Voters Matter analysis suggests a meaningful share of those could be redrawn to dilute Black voting strength under partisan-gerrymandering defenses now available to the legislature.

The state Supreme Court layer. This one is the most immediate. In August 2025, U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock ruled in a case brought by the ACLU, the ACLU of Mississippi, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and private firms on behalf of Black Mississippians that three of Mississippi's Supreme Court districts illegally dilute Black voting strength. The Mississippi Legislature was given the opportunity to redraw the map during its 2026 session. It declined. Judge Aycock held a hearing in Aberdeen on Tuesday — the day before the Callais ruling — weighing whether to adopt a new map herself. The plaintiffs' redistricting expert Bill Cooper presented three proposed maps: a race-blind plan, a least-change plan, and a regional plan, all developed without using racial demographics. Mississippi has never elected a Black justice to the Mississippi Supreme Court without that justice having first received an interim appointment.

The special session. Governor Tate Reeves announced earlier this month that he would call a special legislative session 21 days after the Supreme Court ruled in Callais. That puts the session at May 20, 2026 — three weeks from today. The stated purpose: redraw the state's maps under the new legal framework.

The May 16 Louisiana primary. Louisiana's congressional primary is May 16 — two weeks from today. The state will need to redraw its map, but as Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields (whose district was at the center of the ruling) noted, qualifying has already closed. He has called any immediate redrawing not prudent.

---

What both sides are saying

The majority opinion (Alito): Section 2 was designed to enforce the Constitution — not collide with it. The court's view is that lower courts have applied Section 2 in ways that force states to discriminate by race in the very act of trying to remedy racial discrimination. The opinion notes social change in the South and the increased capacity of computers to draw alternative race-neutral maps as reasons the older Gingles framework is no longer needed.

The Thomas concurrence: The ruling should largely put an end to a system Justice Thomas has long argued unlawfully divided people into districts based on race.

The Kagan dissent: The decision renders Section 2 all but a dead letter. Justice Kagan wrote that the ruling will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity.

Civil rights organizations: The NAACP Legal Defense Fund called the decision a devastating blow and seismic. Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright told NPR the decision could cement one-party control of the House for at least a generation.

Republican state officials: Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill called the ruling a seismic decision reaffirming equal protection. Georgia Republicans called for state lawmakers to immediately redraw the Peach State's congressional maps. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had pre-positioned his own redistricting push in anticipation of the ruling.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Today's Supreme Court decision marks a profound defeat for American democracy and will pave the way for partisan politicians to pick their voters.

The historical pattern

The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Section 5, which required certain states with histories of voter suppression to seek federal preclearance before changing voting laws, was effectively gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013's Shelby County v. Holder. The court reasoned that Section 5's coverage formula was outdated. Section 2, the provision at issue today, was the remaining major federal protection against racially discriminatory voting practices in the wake of that 2013 decision.

In 2019, Rucho v. Common Cause held that federal courts cannot review claims of partisan gerrymandering — only racial gerrymandering. The court's reasoning was that partisan gerrymandering presents political questions outside the courts' competence.

In December 2025, the Supreme Court — on its shadow docket, without full argument — allowed Texas to use a redistricting map that a lower court (in an opinion written by a Trump-appointed judge) had found unconstitutionally diluted minority voting power.

In April 2026 — today — the court issued Louisiana v. Callais.

The pattern, as a matter of legal history: the federal protections against racially discriminatory voting practices that were the central legacy of the Civil Rights Movement have been progressively narrowed across four major Supreme Court rulings spanning the last 13 years.

What's at stake for Mississippi voters

Mississippi has the highest Black population percentage of any U.S. state — approximately 38% according to the most recent census. The state has six congressional seats. Black Mississippians currently have voting majorities in one of them. The state has 174 state legislative seats. Black Mississippians currently have voting majorities in a meaningful share of them. The state has a nine-seat Supreme Court with three districts that a federal judge has ruled illegally dilute Black voting strength.

The May 20 special session will determine — under the new legal framework set by today's ruling — whether and how those maps are redrawn.

What you can do

If you live in Mississippi and care about how this plays out, here is the practical information.

The Mississippi Legislature will convene in special session Tuesday, May 20, 2026. Public testimony procedures and committee schedules will be posted by the Legislature's Joint Reapportionment Committee. The session is open to the public. Citizens can attend, contact their legislators, and submit public comment.

The Mississippi Supreme Court redistricting case is before Judge Aycock. Filings are public.

Mississippi's congressional primaries for 2026 have already happened. The general election is November 3, 2026.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 still exists. Section 2 still exists. What changed today is the legal framework for enforcing it — narrower, harder, slower, and now generally requiring proof of intentional discrimination rather than discriminatory effect. Congressional action could restore the prior framework. So could a future Supreme Court decision.

This is the law as it stands at 12:45 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. The story is moving. We will keep covering it.

Don't take our word for it, see for your self: 24-109 LA vs. Callais

---

Sources

1. Louisiana v. Callais, No. 24-109, decided April 29, 2026. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-109_21o3.pdf
2. NBC News. "Supreme Court sharply limits use of race in redistricting in a win for Republicans." Lawrence Hurley, April 29, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-limits-use-race-redistricting-win-republicans-rcna245856
3. NPR. "Supreme Court calls Louisiana's House map an 'unconstitutional racial gerrymander.'" April 29, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5754657/supreme-court-louisiana-redistricting
4. CNN Politics. "April 29, 2026: Supreme Court limits reach of the Voting Rights Act." April 29, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/29/politics/live-news/supreme-court-temporary-protected-status
5. Mississippi Today. "US Supreme Court Callais decision just weakened the Voting Rights Act. What happens next in Mississippi?" April 29, 2026. https://mississippitoday.org/2026/04/29/callais-supreme-court-mississippi/
6. Axios. "Supreme Court narrows voting law, lifting GOP odds of keeping House." April 29, 2026. https://www.axios.com/2026/04/29/supreme-court-redistricting-race-gerrymander
7. Black Voters Matter Fund and Fair Fight Action. "Louisiana v. Callais — State Legislative Report." December 2025. https://blackvotersmatterfund.org/louisiana-v-callais/
8. NAACP Legal Defense Fund. "Louisiana v. Callais." April 29, 2026. https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/louisiana-v-callais/
9. NPR. "A Supreme Court ruling on voting rights could boost Republicans' redistricting efforts." Hansi Lo Wang, October 15, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/15/nx-s1-5567801/supreme-court-louisiana-redistricting-voting-rights-act
10. Atlanta News First. "'Redraw the maps now' | Georgia Republicans seize on Supreme Court gerrymandering ruling." April 29, 2026. https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/04/29/redraw-maps-now-georgia-republicans-seize-supreme-court-gerrymandering-ruling/
11. Fox News. "Mississippi governor says he will call special session to redraw district maps after SCOTUS ruling." April 25, 2026. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mississippi-governor-call-special-session-redraw-district-maps-after-scotus-ruling
12. Slate. "The Supreme Court Just Greenlit a Gerrymander That Even a Trump Judge Thought Was Too Racist." April 28, 2026. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/04/supreme-court-texas-gerrymander-partisan-racist-shadow-docket.html
13. Wikipedia. "Louisiana v. Callais." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_v._Callais