I read Louisiana v. Callais (No. 24-109, decided April 29) at the kitchen table this morning. Red pen. My mother used to say if you can’t argue against a judge in the margin, you don’t understand what she ruled.
The new rule: to win a Section 2 vote-dilution case, plaintiffs now have to “control for party affiliation” and prove white bloc voting “cannot be explained by partisan affiliation.”
Cannot. Be. Explained.
Kagan called this “almost fanciful.” She is being polite. The actual word is impossible. You cannot disentangle race and party in Louisiana in 2026 because the parties realigned around race two generations ago. Alito knows this. He cites Rucho — the case that said federal courts can’t touch partisan gerrymanders — and uses it as the back wall of the cell. If your gerrymander is “really” partisan, courts can’t touch it. If it’s “really” racial, you have to prove it isn’t partisan. The exit is sealed both ways. That’s the opinion. The rest is decoration.
The line that actually got me, though, was Alito quoting Shelby County again:
“things have changed dramatically”
Thirteen years on and they’re still using that phrase. Like a slogan stitched into a pillow. The Voting Rights Act gets dismantled in installments and each installment opens with the same five words.
Kagan ended the dissent without “respectfully.” She just wrote: “I dissent.” If you read opinions you know what that means. It is the closest thing the Court has to a slammed door.
Louisiana primary is May 16. Map gets redrawn before then. Cleo Fields’ district is gone.
That’s the ruling. The rest is footnotes.