Supreme Court Case on Louisiana’s Congressional Districts

The Supreme Court is currently deliberating on a significant case concerning the Voting Rights Act and whether Louisiana should have two majority-black congressional districts instead of just one.

Progressives, who are opposing the current congressional district maps that feature two such districts, have voiced concerns over potential injustices. During the oral arguments, it appeared that some justices might lean toward prohibiting race from being a factor in determining district lines, mirroring Harvard’s decision to exclude race in admissions. For many progressives, this shift could “eviscerate” the Voting Rights Act, which previously worked to dismantle Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised black voters.

However, striving for black-majority districts could conflict with another aim: promoting racial integration in residential areas. In fact, using race as a basis for forming district borders often necessitates concentrated black neighborhoods, which can be seen as a form of segregation. In Louisiana, where about a third of the population is black, achieving the goal of electing a second black representative could be feasible by merging majority-black districts into one.

Louisiana’s Voting Laws and Redistricting

The congressional district maps in Louisiana under Supreme Court scrutiny illustrate the issue clearly. Among the six congressional districts in the state, only one, the Black-majority 6th District, is not geographically contiguous. This district stretches across ten parishes, linking areas from central Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, to northwestern parts of the state—all in search of concentrated black voter populations, which are approximately 54% of the total. Historically, one parish was the focal point: Natchitoches.

The fear of racial gerrymandering would likely decrease if black neighborhoods weren’t so densely packed. It’s possible that such concentrations stem from ongoing housing discrimination; however, the representation preferences of black residents, primarily reflected through black legislators, could exploit these very practices.

It’s often overlooked that black residents might have more in common with their neighbors—regardless of race—than with distant communities. A black minority within a predominately white district could potentially act as a key swing voter bloc.

This isn’t the first instance where progressive policies have inadvertently fostered residential segregation in the South while claiming to benefit African Americans. For instance, public housing initiatives have similarly impacted communities across the Deep South. The National Housing Act of 1937, introduced as part of the New Deal, was co-sponsored by Alabama Congressman Henry Stegall. He claimed it would benefit more than just large northern cities, despite its effective continuation of Jim Crow practices.

Southern Democrats recognized public housing as a tool for supporting residential racial segregation. A notable example includes the incident in New Bern, North Carolina, where a racially integrated neighborhood was deemed a slum, demolished, and replaced with a whites-only housing project, while an all-black project sprang up elsewhere.

Patterns of Segregation in Housing

This pattern continued across various initiatives. FDR’s administration completed exclusive housing projects for whites in places like Atlanta, while units designated for black residents were established separately. Though intentions were to provide new opportunities, many of these efforts ultimately faltered, as seen with the Frederick Douglass House, which was later condemned due to poor conditions.

Today, public housing in the Deep South remains predominantly black. In cities like Birmingham, 96% of public housing residents are black; in Atlanta, it’s 94%; in East Baton Rouge, 92%; and in Clarksdale, Mississippi, 96% are black.

Ironically, these high concentrations of black residents are crucial in shaping the majority-black congressional districts that progressives support, even as residents often face issues like elevated crime rates and inadequate maintenance. One misguided idea seems to lead to another.