We Still Haven’t Seen How Bad Gerrymandering Can Get
The Supreme Court's recent ruling in Louisiana v. Callais has weakened constraints on partisan gerrymandering by narrowing the Voting Rights Act's protections to cases involving explicit racial discrimination. This decision enables Republican-led states to redraw maps in ways that could eliminate Democratic-leaning districts, potentially triggering retaliatory gerrymandering by Democrats in blue states. With both parties poised to engage in aggressive redistricting, the House of Representatives could become increasingly unrepresentative and hyper-partisan in future elections.
- ▪The Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that the Voting Rights Act only prohibits gerrymandering with explicit racial discriminatory intent, not partisan motives.
- ▪Republican-led Southern states may now eliminate majority-Black, Democratic-leaning districts without legal challenge.
- ▪Democrats in blue states could respond by dismantling nonpartisan redistricting commissions and creating heavily partisan maps, potentially leading to all-Democratic delegations in states like California and Illinois.
- ▪Experts warn that the ruling could trigger an escalating cycle of partisan map-drawing, making nearly every House seat safe for incumbents.
- ▪The decision may lead to 'baconmander' districts—long, narrow strips connecting urban centers to overwhelm rural votes in statewide delegations.
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PoliticsWe Still Haven’t Seen How Bad Gerrymandering Can GetThe Supreme Court has opened the door to aggressive Republican redistricting schemes that will trigger escalating Democratic reprisals.By Marc NovicoffIllustration by Lucy Naland. Source: Getty.May 5, 2026, 7 AM ET ShareSave The very short list of constraints on partisan gerrymandering has gotten even shorter. Until last week, the Supreme Court had interpreted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to require states to draw some majority-minority districts. But in Louisiana v. Callais, it overturned that requirement and held that the VRA prohibits gerrymandering only if it’s done with the explicit goal of racial discrimination.
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