Voting rights at risk after Supreme Court makes it harder to challenge racial gerrymandering

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Sam D. Hayes, Trinity College

(THE CONVERSATION) Two recent Supreme Court rulings on congressional redistricting will have starkly different consequences for Black voters in the 2024 election.

One ruling boosted Black voting power in Louisiana, while another decision upheld a South Carolina congressional map that the lower court had declared “illegal racial gerrymandering.”

Despite these seemingly contradictory outcomes, there is a through line.

In both cases, the justices gave partisan state legislatures more power to craft congressional districts and overruled the lower federal courts that had ordered state legislatures to draw new maps.

Together, these decisions represent a conservative shift in the Supreme Court’s approach to redistricting that could have major effects on American democracy.

Presuming ‘good faith’ in South Carolina

Every 10 years, U.S. states must redraw their legislative districts to account for population changes. Redistricting is typically completed by a state legislature or commission. When the districts are drawn for political goals, often in unusual shapes, this is considered “gerrymandering.”

Gerrymandering is not necessarily illegal. In 2019, the Supreme Court declared that partisan gerrymandering, or drawing districts that advantage...