The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on April 29, 2026 that Louisiana's congressional map violated the Constitution and effectively weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by requiring proof of intentional discrimination rather than proof of discriminatory effect. The decision reverses decades of voting rights protections and allows states to redraw majority-minority districts that previously shielded Black voters' electoral influence — Republicans are already positioning to redraw maps in southern states, likely reducing Black Democratic representation in Congress. The ruling is genuinely historic: it's the first time the Court has effectively gutted the VRA's core anti-discrimination mechanism, and Ballotpedia's fact-check confirms the characterization that the Court 'limited' major parts of the Act (though some outlets debate whether this amounts to 'striking down' versus 'narrowing').