(The Center Square) − Thirteen former Republican members of Congress filed an amicus brief in Louisiana v. Callais, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as constitutional.
The group – including former U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana – argued that the provision, which bars voting practices that deny or dilute minority voting power, represents a bipartisan achievement that Congress has repeatedly reauthorized with overwhelming support.
“This issue is personal – each signatory voted to reauthorize the VRA during their time in office,” the Protect Democracy Project said, who filed the brief on behalf of the lawmakers. They pointed to past votes in 1982, 1992, and 2006, when both Republican and Democratic majorities backed reauthorization of the law with near-unanimous margins.
The brief stresses that Section 2 reflects Congress’s constitutional role under the Fourteenth Amendment, Fifteenth Amendment, and Elections Clause to safeguard equal political opportunity. The former legislators warned that judicial nullification of the provision would undermine separation of powers and destabilize election law.
“Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was the result of thoughtful, bipartisan compromise – and should be defended by all Americans, regardless of party,” Dunn Isaacson Rhee said in a statement. The Wednesday filing marked the firm’s first Supreme Court amicus brief.
The lawmakers also emphasized that Section 2 is narrowly tailored, applying only where plaintiffs prove current, localized vote dilution under strict legal standards, and does not mandate racial quotas. They argued that overturning decades of precedent – including the Court’s 1986 Thornburg v. Gingles decision and its 2023 Allen v. Milligan ruling – would “shatter profound reliance interests” for states, courts, and voters.
The filing comes as Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill presses the justices to strike down Section 2 as unconstitutional, saying it improperly forces legislatures to consider race in redistricting. The court will rehear the case Oct. 15, with Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga arguing for the state.
At the center of the fight is whether Louisiana must maintain two majority-Black congressional districts. A federal judge ordered lawmakers to add a second district after the 2020 Census, finding the original map diluted Black voting strength. Lawmakers complied in 2024, but another group of voters challenged the map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, prompting the appeal.
