Majority-minority district
Definition
A majority-minority district is a voting district drawn so that one or more racial or ethnic minority groups make up most of its voting-age population, often to help that group elect a candidate of its choice under the Voting Rights Act.
Why it matters
These districts can remedy historical vote dilution, but courts scrutinize them closely because race-based map-drawing can itself become an unconstitutional racial gerrymander if race predominates over other factors. Where that line falls is now unsettled and shifting.
Seen in the wild
In Louisiana v. Callais, decided April 29, 2026 by a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's second Black-majority congressional district, itself created to remedy an earlier Voting Rights Act violation, as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, and narrowed the legal framework courts have used since 1986 to evaluate such claims. Louisiana suspended its May 2026 primary while redrawing the map.1