ICYMI: Eric Holder Calls on SCOTUS to Protect Voting Rights Act as its New Term Begins

For Immediate Release
October 8, 2025
Contact
Madia Coleman
comms@redistrictingfoundation.org

Washington, D.C. – This week marks the beginning of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new term, during which the future of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 will be determined. On October 15, the Court will rehear oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, a redistricting lawsuit coming out of Louisiana that could determine the future of Section 2. 

The National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) recently hosted a press call to highlight the stakes for the Voting Rights Act in the Supreme Court’s new term. The call featured Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States, who previewed what the Court’s term could mean for the VRA as multiple cases make their way before it, and NRF Executive Director Marina Jenkins, who previewed the oral argument in Louisiana v. Callais. The Galmon Amici, a group of Louisiana voters supported by the NRF who successfully won the previous Section 2 litigation, have filed an amicus brief in the Callais case asking the Court to uphold the constitutionality of Section 2 of the VRA and to permanently reinstate Louisiana’s VRA-compliant congressional map, which includes two Black opportunity districts. To view the opening remarks from the press call, click here.

“Central to each of these cases, as well as the manufactured gerrymandering crisis, is a fundamental question about who the politicians in this country answer to and who they represent,” Attorney General Holder said on the press call regarding several VRA lawsuits making their way before the Court this term. “Since 1965, the Voting Rights Act has been really a critical piece of the answer to that question. It is the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement. It is what John Lewis shed blood for on the Edmund Pettis Bridge. The [19]65 Voting Rights Act is the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement, and the last time that it was reauthorized back in 2006, the vote was 390-33 and 98-0—98 to zip—in the Senate. In just the last two years, its enforcement has dismantled racially discriminatory maps in a bunch of states, including Alabama, as well as in Louisiana, and it’s given Black voters in those states equal representation that had been denied to them for far too long.”

“Here’s the bottom line: this should be a straightforward decision for the Court,” NRF Executive Director Marina Jenkins said on the press call about Louisiana v. Callais. “A textbook application of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act—a law this same Court ruled just two years ago to uphold—requires Louisiana to have a congressional map with two districts where Black voters have the opportunity and equal access to the political process to elect their candidate of choice. That should be the end of the story. The simple and unfortunate truth is that the Voting Rights Act remains necessary to this day to protect voters of color from having their voices silenced at the ballot box.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

The congressional map passed into law by the state of Louisiana in 2022 allowed Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice in just one of six congressional districts, despite the fact that Black voters made up a third of the state’s population. In response, the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF)  initiated Galmon v. Ardoin, which was consolidated with Robinson v. Ardoin, lawsuits challenging Louisiana’s gerrymandered congressional map for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. That litigation was ultimately successful in requiring the state of Louisiana to enact a new, VRA-compliant map that includes two Black opportunity districts. 

Immediately after enactment of this new map, a separate lawsuit—the Callais case—was filed, and a lower federal court struck down Louisiana’s VRA-compliant map. Following that decision, the NRF-supported voters from the Galmon case, alongside the Robinson group, filed an emergency stay request with the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Court granted that request. This kept Louisiana’s VRA-compliant map in place for the 2024 election, which allowed Louisianans to elect two Black Members of Congress to represent their state simultaneously for the first time in almost three decades. 

In March 2025, oral argument in Louisiana v. Callais took place before the U.S. Supreme Court, and, leading up to that day, the NRF filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Galmon Amici in support of Louisiana’s VRA-compliant map. However, in June 2025, the Court announced that the case would be re-argued during its next term. In early August, the Court directed the parties to submit supplemental briefing to address the question of whether the creation of a second Black opportunity district in Louisiana violates the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Subsequently, the Court scheduled oral argument in the rehearing of the case for October 15. In September, the NRF filed another amicus brief on behalf of the Galmon Amici asking the Court to uphold the constitutionality of Section 2 of the VRA and to permanently reinstate Louisiana’s VRA-compliant congressional map for the rest of the decade.

A stay on the lower federal court’s decision remains in place, which ensures that Louisiana’s VRA-compliant map remains in place at least until the U.S. Supreme Court issues a decision in this case. To learn more about the NRF’s work, click here. 

###