BGOV OnPoint: GOP Rushes for New Maps After Voting Rights Ruling

Republican state lawmakers are rushing to eliminate Democratic districts from their voting maps after the Supreme Court restricted use of the Voting Rights Act to create majority-minority districts.

The landmark 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais set a much stricter legal standard for when states could consider race in the redistricting process under the Voting Rights Act, which bans practices that would deny voting rights based on race. Case law had generally mandated legislatures create majority-minority congressional districts to give racial minorities a chance to elect their choice of candidates.

Lawmakers in Alabama and Tennessee opened special legislative sessions to ...