Louisiana v. Callais, 608 U.S. ___ (2026) — Slip Opinion

Decided April 29, 2026, 6–3. Majority opinion by Justice Alito, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. Dissent by Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson. Holds that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, on an interpretation that “does not demand a finding of intentional discrimination,” “imposes liability only when the circumstances give rise to a strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred” (slip op. 23); states the standard again as “a strong inference that the State intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race,” and that “if a §2 plaintiff cannot disentangle race from the State’s race-neutral considerations, including politics, then §2 cannot impose liability” (slip op. 26); and, answering the dissent, says “What must be shown is exactly what the 1982 amendment of §2 called for,” and that “the circumstances must give rise to a strong inference of racial discrimination” (slip op. 35) and that “the focus of §2 must be enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment’s prohibition on intentional racial discrimination” (slip op. 23). The Court found that Louisiana’s compliance with Section 2 did not justify the State’s use of race in drawing SB8 because §2, read as the majority reads it, did not require an additional majority-minority district. Kagan’s dissent says “Today’s decision returns Section 2 to what it was under Bolden” and “It is as if Congress had never amended Section 2,” and that the majority’s “updates” “eviscerate the law.”

Corrected 2026-10-01. This record said, in its own voice, that the Act was “as reinterpreted,” and gave the majority’s holding without the qualifier that opens its sentence at slip op. 23. Both now follow the opinion’s words.