In Louisiana v. Callais, the Court is weighing whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act will still meaningfully protect minority voters from being sliced apart or packed into districts that dilute their power. For decades, that provision has been the legal backbone for challenging unfair maps.

If the justices narrow it or gut it entirely, Republican-controlled legislatures could move swiftly, redrawing as many as 19 districts in their favor and potentially locking in a durable House majority even when they win fewer overall votes.

The consequences would fall heaviest on Black and brown communities across the South, where new maps could erase hard-fought gains in representation. Advocates are pushing voters, lawmakers, and the Justice Department to prepare now: fund litigation, pass state-level protections, and demand transparency in every map-drawing process. The ruling will not just decide lines on a map; it will reveal whose voices this democracy is still willing to hear.