Supreme Court hears arguments regarding landmark Voting Rights Act, in Louisiana redistricting case

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday on the country's landmark Voting Rights Act – in a case regarding congressional redistricting in Louisiana.

The justices will hear lawyers argue about whether states can consider race in drawing new districts while seeking to comply with Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in balloting, according to NBC News.

Louisiana was required last year to redraw its congressional map – which divided it and other states into sections, or districts, for representation in the House of Representatives – after being sued under the act to ensure that there were two majority-black districts. The original map had only one majority-black district in a state in which black residents make up a third of the population.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court heard the case on legal issues of a narrower scope. In June, the court asked the parties to re-argue the case, focusing on whether drawing a map to ensure there are majority-black districts violates the Constitution’s 14th and 15th Amendments, which were enacted after the Civil War to ensure former slaves' equal rights.

Louisiana initially defended its new map, but has since switched sides and joined a group of self-identified "non-African-American" voters who sued to block it on constitutional grounds. The Trump administration also supports Louisiana's new position.

Meanwhile, civil rights groups that challenged the original map are defending the new map.