Welcome to the NewsHour. The U.S. Supreme Court today struck down one of Louisiana's

majority black congressional districts, a decision that weakens key protections under the Voting

Rights Act. In a six to three ruling, the court's conservative majority found that Louisiana's

sixth district, which links black communities across the state, relied too heavily on race and its design.

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito called the map an unconstitutional gerrymander.

The decision could open the door to broader legal challenges over majority black and Latino

districts across the country and give state's new latitude to redraw maps in ways that could

shift the balance of political power.

Louisiana Democratic Congressman Troy Carter said the impact of the ruling will extend far

beyond his state.

This is about our democracy.

And I implore everyone who's out there to recognize that if you care about justice, freedom, and fair elections, you should be as upset as we are.

We are joined now by Amy Howe, NewsHour Supreme Court analyst and co-founder of SCOTUS blog and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. It's great to have the

both of you here. So Amy Howell will start with you. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, long

been considered a cornerstone of protections against racial discrimination in voting.

Past, during the height of the civil rights movement, expanded by Congress thereafter.

Given that history, help us understand exactly what the court ruled today.

So the court did two things. First, as the introduction suggested, it struck down this map

that Louisiana drew in 2024 that created a second majority black district in Louisiana. And it had done that in response to a court

ruling in a case that had been brought by black voters arguing that Louisiana had violated the

Voting Rights Act when it drew a map in 2022 because that map only had one majority black district. And those voters said that Louisiana

had diluted their votes, that they had cracked and packed. The voting rights terminology goes

...