Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The landmark civil rights law banned racial discrimination in voting and enforced the 15th Amendment right for Black men to vote.
Sections of the law have been challenged in court since. This includes Louisiana's redistricting lawsuit against Section 2, which prohibited voters from being denied on the basis of color.
The high court’s decision struck down a majority-Black district in Louisiana, saying it was racially gerrymandered. The court ruled that a state’s district mapmakers must prove they intentionally drew districts to dilute the minority vote.
The article, “The Supreme Court’s voting rights decision could reshape local government across Texas” by VoteBeat in collaboration with the Texas Tribune examines how the ruling will affect Texas.
Author and reporter Natalia Contreras said the ruling can diminish minority representation and affect local races.
“For years Section 2 was used to actually expand the voices of Black and Latino voters at the very local level when it comes to your school and your city councils,” she said. “This is really important because those are the boards that really touch our daily lives.”
Redistricting is legal for partisan gain. Contreras said the ruling also makes it harder to prove that redistricted maps — like ones recently passed in Texas — may discriminate against minority areas.
“The high court is saying that if you’re doing it for partisan reasons, that’s totally fine,” Contreras said. “In order for any challengers to show that there was intent to discriminate, that could be a little harder to prove in court.”
