Skipping forward a bit, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act applied restrictions to how Louisiana and some other Southern states could draw districts. These restrictions essentially required Louisiana to create majority-minority districts to ensure that blacks were elected to Congress in proportion to their population.
Now, if racism is bad, and if the 14th amendment demands equal protection of the laws, how could we justify drawing districts explicitly on the basis of race? Answer: as a systematic remedy to a century of systematic violations of the 13th and 14th amendments from 1865-1964.
So the status quo for decades was that Louisiana had one or two black members of Congress, from the legally-mandated majority black districts. And the white majorities in the other districts continued to vote for white representatives.
Now recently, the Supreme Court has been attacking that rationale that allows race-based districts. Their reasoning is that although the systematic remedy was justified in the 1960s, there is no longer any need today.
The USA had a civil war in the 1860s and we were too soft on the losers. Been suffering for it ever since.
Skipping forward a bit, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act applied restrictions to how Louisiana and some other Southern states could draw districts. These restrictions essentially required Louisiana to create majority-minority districts to ensure that blacks were elected to Congress in proportion to their population.
Now, if racism is bad, and if the 14th amendment demands equal protection of the laws, how could we justify drawing districts explicitly on the basis of race? Answer: as a systematic remedy to a century of systematic violations of the 13th and 14th amendments from 1865-1964.
So the status quo for decades was that Louisiana had one or two black members of Congress, from the legally-mandated majority black districts. And the white majorities in the other districts continued to vote for white representatives.
Now recently, the Supreme Court has been attacking that rationale that allows race-based districts. Their reasoning is that although the systematic remedy was justified in the 1960s, there is no longer any need today.