The Law That Still Exists

Language Matters by Elias Winter · May 3, 2026 · 15m

A law can still be alive and yet walk with a limp.

That is the simplest way to understand the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. The Voting Rights Act was not repealed. Black voters did not lose the right to sue. Racial discrimination in voting did not become legal.

But something important changed.

In a 6–3 decision written by Justice Samuel Alito, the Court affirmed a lower-court ruling that struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, known as SB8, which had created a second majority-Black district. The Court concluded that Louisiana could not rely on Section 2 of the Voting…