How the U.S. Supreme Court's Decision in Allen v. Milligan Will Impact Ongoing Redistricting Litigat

[Nevilledog]

https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/how-the-u-s-supreme-courts-decision-in-allen-v-milligan-will-impact-ongoing-redistricting-litigation/

On Thursday, June 8, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in the landmark redistricting case, Allen v. Milligan, in which the majority upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Section 2 prohibits any voting law, practice or map that results in the denial of the right to vote of any citizen on account of race. In a major victory for voters, the majority affirmed a lower court’s decision that blocked Alabama’s congressional map for likely violating Section 2, paving the way for the state to add an additional majority-Black district.

Crucially, the Court’s opinion in Allen leaves Section 2 — the most litigated portion of the VRA — in place and will allow pro-voting plaintiffs to continue to challenge racially discriminatory maps in court under this indispensable tool. “We accordingly decline to recast our [Section 2] case law as Alabama requests,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the majority opinion. Roberts was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the majority opinion in part.

This landmark decision will have a reverberating and largely positive impact on active litigation involving Section 2 claims across 10 different states. According to Democracy Docket’s database of 63 active redistricting cases, 31 cases allege Section 2 claims and are currently pending in federal court. Many of these cases involve maps that were drawn during the decennial redistricting process after the release of 2020 census data.

The vast majority of ongoing Section 2 cases mount challenges to maps in southern states such as Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, all of which share invidious histories of enacting racially discriminatory maps and were previously subjected to preclearance requirements under the now-defunct Section 5 of the VRA. Lawsuits across these states and others were brought to remedy alleged violations of Section 2 and to ensure that minority voters have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.

*snip*