OPINION:
In a case before the Supreme Court, Louisiana seeks to strike down a congressional map on the ground that it discriminates on the basis of race in violation of the 14th Amendment (“Louisiana, non-Black voters ask Supreme Court to overturn state’s congressional map,” Web, Sept. 18).
Louisiana’s congressional map is drawn to create two Black-majority districts that violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. They are justified on the ground that districts drawn on a partisan basis dilute Black voters’ power to influence elections in violation of the 15th Amendment, but that amendment protects individuals’ right to vote, not the right of group power to exert influence.
If the 15th Amendment did protect group power, the majority-minority districts would be hoisted with their own petard, as the districts would dilute the influence of the districts’ Whites, a protected class. Moreover, the 15th Amendment applies only to action taken on account of race. Given minority groups’ overwhelming support for the Democratic Party, boundaries that dilute minority group influence are drawn for partisan advantage, not on account of race. Minority group voters should not receive preferential treatment because of how they vote.
The Supreme Court has blessed majority-minority districts, but it has scheduled oral arguments to reconsider their constitutionality. It should flip thumbs-down.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
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