Voting Rights
Indiana Redistricting Showdown: GOP Senators Defy Trump as National Map Fights Intensify
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Indiana’s Republican-led Senate has rejected a Trump-backed congressional map that would likely have given the GOP all nine of the state’s U.S. House seats, despite an aggressive months-long pressure campaign from the White House, even as redistricting battles elsewhere and a looming Supreme Court case shape the national landscape.
Republicans' hopes for a Supreme Court decision to weaken the Voting Rights Act and enable favorable redistricting before the 2026 midterms are fading as election timelines tighten. The case, Louisiana v. Callais, could allow the GOP to redraw maps in the South to gain more congressional seats, but experts predict a ruling too late for implementation. State officials warn that changing maps now would create logistical chaos for elections.
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In 2025, the US Supreme Court's conservative supermajority repeatedly supported President Donald Trump's expansive agenda, clearing paths for executive actions on immigration, the economy, and electoral power. This alignment, often without explanation via the shadow docket, raised questions about the court's role in democracy. Legal analysts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed the implications in a year-end podcast, highlighting the focus on voting rights cases.
A Texas appeals court ruled against Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit targeting Beto O’Rourke’s nonprofit Powered by People, protecting its free speech rights. O’Rourke views the decision as a defense of democratic principles amid Republican efforts to redraw electoral maps. He warns that Democrats must win the 2026 midterms to check authoritarian consolidation.
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The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on October 15, 2025, in Callais v. Louisiana, a case challenging whether creating a second majority-Black congressional district violates the Constitution. Conservative justices appeared inclined to limit Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, potentially allowing Republicans to gain up to 19 House seats. The ruling could reshape minority representation in Congress.