How the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision in Allen v. Milligan Will Impact Ongoing Redistricting Litigation

On Thursday, June 8, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in the landmark redistricting case, Allen v. Milligan, in which the majority upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Section 2 prohibits any voting law, practice or map that results in the denial of the right to vote of any citizen on account of race. In a major victory for voters, the majority affirmed a lower court’s decision that blocked Alabama’s congressional map for likely violating Section 2, paving the way for the state to add an additional majority-Black district. This landmark decision will have a reverberating and largely positive impact on active litigation involving Section 2 claims across 10 different states.