After SCOTUS decision, Mississippi official calls to scrap state's only majority-Black House district - National & International News -

After SCOTUS decision, Shad White calls to scrap Mississippi’s only majority-Black Congressional district

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority substantially weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Known as Section 2, it allowed Black voters to challenge an electoral map drawn in a way that diluted the power of their vote, whether or not this was proved to be the intent. Now the court’s conservatives have essentially moved the goalposts, changing the standard for challenging these maps from effect to intent. Even if the way a map is drawn has the effect of diluting the Black vote, a challenger must now prove that this was the intent.

The ruling is likely to have broad ramifications as Democrat and Republican-led states scramble to redraw their maps in ways that will benefit their party in the upcoming 2026 midterms. This case centered on a majority-Black district in Louisiana, but many red states could soon move to redraw their maps, now unencumbered by any responsibility to ensure their Black residents are adequately represented.

Mississippi State Auditor Shad White wrote on Facebook saying that today’s ruling would enable Mississippi to “no longer have a district drawn to protect Bennie Thompson”. Rep. Thompson (Mississippi’s only Black Congressional delegate) has represented Congressional District 2 since 1993.

Nearly 38% of Mississippi’s residents are Black, the highest percentage of any US state. Thompson’s district is 64% Black and includes the Delta and parts of Jackson.