NRF Responds to Trump DOJ’s Shameful Amicus Brief Attempting to Undermine the Voting Rights Act

For Immediate Release
September 25, 2025
Contact
Madia Coleman
comms@redistrictingfoundation.org

Washington, D.C. – Today, Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF), released the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filing an amicus brief that challenges the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act in the Louisiana v. Callais case:

“The Department of Justice exists to enforce the law and protect the rights of the American people—not to undermine them. The shameful arguments in the DOJ’s brief  betray that mission and send a clear signal that at Donald Trump’s direction the federal government will not protect Americans’ right to vote. 

“Up until late January of this year, the DOJ supported federal law and stood on the side of Black Louisianans who are fighting to protect their right to equal representation. At the same time states like Texas draw increasingly discriminatory maps, at Trump’s order, his DOJ is doing everything it can to weaken protections for communities of color and silence voters. The protections enshrined in the Voting Rights Act remain absolutely necessary to protect voters from state governments that enact egregious gerrymanders and a federal government that is increasingly hostile to the right to vote. The U.S. Supreme Court should not fail to meet this moment for the American people.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

Just days after President Trump’s inauguration in 2025, the Trump Administration’s DOJ withdrew a request before the U.S. Supreme Court that previously asked to participate in oral argument in support of Louisiana's current Voting Rights Act (VRA)-compliant map in the case Louisiana v. Callais. In that withdrawal, the Trump Administration’s DOJ stated it no longer supported that position supporting the protection of Louisiana’s VRA-compliant congressional map, which includes two Black opportunity districts as a result of enforcement of the VRA. Now, the DOJ under the Trump Administration is again asking to participate in the oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in this case, but this time, arguing against the constitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. 

Meanwhile, the NRF has submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Galmon Amici in Louisiana v. Callais, asking the Court to uphold the constitutionality of Section 2 of the VRA and permanently reinstate Louisiana’s VRA-compliant congressional map.

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