‘The stakes are quite large’: US supreme court case could gut Voting Rights Act

Court's decision in Louisiana v Callais could limit voters from challenging racial discriminatory districts

The US supreme court is set to hear a case this month that could gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act, effectively killing one of the crown jewels of the civil rights movement and the nation's most powerful statute to prevent discrimination in voting.

The court's decision in the case, Louisiana v Callais, could be one of the most consequential rulings for the Voting Rights Act since it was enacted in 1965 and is almost certainly the biggest test for the law since its decision in Shelby county v Holder in 2013, when the justices hollowed out a provision of the law, section five, that required certain places to get voting changes approved by the federal government before they go into effect.