A new court decision is shaking up the political landscape in Louisiana, and it’s a huge deal for the 2026 midterm elections. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked the state’s congressional redistricting map, ruling that it is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander by the GOP. This decision, which supports a lower court’s ruling, found that the map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by diluting the voting power of Black residents.
The court rejected the state’s argument that it was no longer necessary to consider race when drawing the map. Basically, the court found that the map, which was originally passed by the Republican-majority legislature in 2022, was designed to weaken the influence of Black voters. The court found that the map used specific tactics to achieve this. It basically “packed” Black voters into a small number of districts where they were the majority and “cracked” other Black communities by splitting them across multiple districts.
The result was that black voters were prevented from forming powerful voting blocs, which the court determined was against the law, per Fox News. This is just another example of the intense partisan struggles we’ve been seeing since the 2020 census, where the drawing of congressional district maps has become a huge battleground.
GOP tries to gerrymander in Louisiana and fails
We’ve seen similar fights in Texas, where Republicans tried to restructure their map, and in California and New York, where governors have introduced or vowed to create maps favoring Democrats. In New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed at a press conference earlier this month to explore “every option” in redrawing state lines. “We are at war,” Hochul said, speaking alongside the Texas Democrats who fled to her state.
The Supreme Court is also reviewing the Louisiana map, adding another layer of complexity to the whole situation. During the oral arguments, they looked at whether Louisiana’s redistricting efforts were tailored enough to meet constitutional requirements and if race was used in a way that broke the law. The Supreme Court is expected to hear more arguments this fall, so this isn’t over just yet.
Don’t hold your breath, Louisiana just created a second minority majority district because they didn’t want to wait for it to go to the Supreme Court. It doesn’t fit the population and there is currently super majority R in house and senate plus governor. Sickening, no fight.
— Paralax Problem Child (@Hellbound8541) August 17, 2025
The court said of this attempt, “There is no legal basis for this proposition, and the state offers no evidence that conditions in Louisiana have changed.” The stakes here are incredibly high. These midterm elections are going to be a huge test of the current administration’s policies.
The outcomes of these redistricting battles across the country are going to be a huge factor in determining the balance of power in Congress. It’s a clear signal that every little change, from the Fifth Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court’s upcoming arguments, is going to play a crucial role in shaping the political landscape for years to come. This seems to be something that is on the minds of many politicians.
