(The Center Square) – Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that race cannot be used in drawing election maps, a move that could upend how districts are drawn across the country.

Murrill, in her brief filed Wednesday, says requiring legislatures to create majority-minority districts – where Black or Hispanic voters make up most of the population – violates the Constitution.

“We have consistently argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s redistricting jurisprudence needs to be drastically changed or overruled,” she said. “By requiring state legislatures to draw maps that sort voters by race, it forces us to violate the federal Constitution.”

She added that the court’s order for fresh arguments makes the issue plain.

“The Constitution forbids sorting voters by race,” Murrill said. “And telling legislators drawing maps to think about race, but not think too much about race, is an untenable standard.”

At the center of the case is Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1964, which allows courts to require states to draw districts where minority voters have a fair chance to elect a candidate of their choice. Louisiana’s new filing says that mandate is unconstitutional, calling racial classifications “presumptively invalid” and comparing them to past segregation.

The 47-page brief says using race in redistricting “demeans voters,” creates a system where some groups are favored at the expense of others, and traps states in endless litigation.

The state urged the justices to overturn Thornburg v. Gingles, the 1986 decision that has guided Section 2 cases for nearly 40 years.

If the court sides with Louisiana, election experts say it could strip away one of the last remaining tools to enforce the Voting Rights Act and reshape how minority representation is handled nationwide.

The legal battle began after the 2020 U.S. Census, when Louisiana lawmakers approved a congressional map with five majority-White districts and one majority-Black district. Black voters challenged the plan, saying it diluted their voting power, and a federal judge ordered lawmakers to draw a second majority-Black district.

The Legislature responded with Senate Bill 8 in 2024, creating two majority-Black districts. But another group of voters sued, saying the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander because it relied too heavily on race. A divided three-judge panel agreed, setting up the appeal now before the Supreme Court.

The justices will rehear the case Oct. 15. Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga will argue for the state.

Murrill framed the case as a matter of principle.

“Our Constitution sees neither Black voters nor white voters; it sees only American voters,” the brief concludes.