Louisiana
Where the Voting Rights Act stands after the Supreme Court punts on a Louisiana case
Demonstrators walk in Selma, Ala., in March with a sign saying “UNITE TO FIGHT FOR VOTING RIGHTS” to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march that galvanized the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
In a rare decision this week, the U.S. Supreme Court postponed ruling on a Louisiana congressional redistricting case that could have implications on legal protections for the rights of minority voters across the country.
The high court’s order on Friday did not explain why the court wants to hear oral arguments again in Louisiana v. Callais during its next term that is expected to start in October, although it signaled there may be details in a follow-up order coming in “due course.”
“This is on the surface a fairly easy case factually to decide,” says Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. “The Supreme Court almost never holds over cases for argument. And the fact that it’s doing so in this case is puzzling.”
Some legal experts are watching to see if the court’s ruling ends up joining a string of decisions since 2013 by the court’s conservative majority that have limited the scope of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its protections against racial discrimination in elections.
“Voting Rights Act watchers have been predicting a major shift around the Voting Rights Act for over a decade,” says Atiba Ellis, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University. “The fact that the Court is rearguing Louisiana v. Callais may mean there is deep debate and a potential major decision upholding — or striking down — the Voting Rights Act.”
The Louisiana case also centers on the role of politics when redrawing maps of voting districts, notes Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor. The court’s punting this week “may mean more justices want to think a little bit more about the interaction of race and politics and the Voting Rights Act than I would have thought, but that’s not sort of prejudging the outcome of that consideration,” adds Levitt, who served as a White House adviser on voting rights during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Levitt also points to the court’s 2023 ruling for a similar redistricting case out of Alabama as a sign that the Voting Rights Act may end up unscathed by the court’s ultimate ruling in this long-running redistricting battle. In that decision, the court upheld its previous rulings on the same part of the Voting Rights Act that many of its advocates fear could be weakened in the Louisiana case.
As the Voting Rights Act’s supporters prepare to mark the 60th anniversary of the law’s passage this August, Levitt, however, does note that its critics are setting up potential future showdowns at the Supreme Court.
Here’s what to know about where Voting Rights Act protections currently stand in the Louisiana case and the key lawsuits that could weaken them next:
The Louisiana ruling could make it harder to claim that a voting map dilutes minority voters’ collective power
To comply with what’s known as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, state lawmakers in Louisiana — where voting is racially polarized and nearly 1 in 3 people are Black — are under a federal court order to pass a map with two out of six districts where Black voters have a realistic opportunity of electing their preferred candidates.
But a group of self-described “non-Black” voters challenged the map that the state’s legislature said it passed to get in line with Section 2. Those challengers argue that one of the districts the lawmakers drew is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
Civil rights advocates hold signs saying “LOUISIANA DESERVES FAIR MAPS!” outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in March on the first day of oral arguments in the Louisiana congressional redistricting case.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
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Jemal Countess/Getty Images
During oral arguments in March, however, Louisiana state Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga said the Republican-led legislature made a “politically rational decision” to draw a map with a pair of majority-Black districts in a way that protects the seats of three top Louisiana Republicans — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Julia Letlow, a House Appropriations Committee member.
With a candidate filing deadline for the state’s 2026 primary election coming up this December, a Supreme Court order from last year keeps the congressional map with two majority-Black districts in effect at least for now.
But voting rights advocates are keeping watch for any ruling by the high court that strikes down the map and potentially further limits how race can factor into redistricting around the country. That could make it harder to enforce Section 2 protections against maps of voting districts that dilute minority voters’ collective power in areas where voting is racially polarized.
Alabama wants to again argue against race-based redistricting before the Supreme Court
Republican state officials in Alabama are, once again, appealing another long-running congressional redistricting case to the Supreme Court.
This time, they’ve teed up an argument that it is unconstitutional for Congress to allow race-based redistricting to continue without an end date under the Voting Rights Act.
Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas raised that point when the high court ruled on Alabama’s congressional map in 2023, when Kavanaugh also noted: “Alabama did not raise that temporal argument in this Court, and I therefore would not consider it at this time.”
In that ruling, Kavanaugh joined Chief Justice John Roberts, a fellow conservative, and the court’s three liberal justices to uphold the Supreme Court’s past rulings on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
But some voting rights advocates are watching to see if Republican Alabama officials can sway Kavanaugh this round and ultimately undo Section 2 protections against the dilution of minority voters’ collective power in redistricting.
GOP state officials in Louisiana have raised the same constitutional argument against Section 2 protections in a state legislative redistricting case, which is currently waiting for a ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A North Dakota case could end a key tool for enforcing minority voters’ rights
Last month, a North Dakota state legislative redistricting case moved a step closer to the Supreme Court, where a potential ruling could eliminate a key tool for protecting the rights of minority voters.
For decades, private individuals and groups have brought most of the lawsuits focused on enforcing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. But a pair of decisions out of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found that private individuals and groups are not allowed to sue because they are not explicitly named in the words of the Voting Rights Act. Only the head of the Justice Department, these 8th Circuit panel decisions say, can file these types of lawsuits.
Native American voters led by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians are asking the full 8th Circuit to review the latest decision.
In the meantime, the rulings apply to seven mainly Midwestern states — Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota — as the Justice Department under the Trump administration steps away from Section 2 lawsuits it previously brought when Biden was in office.
Some voting rights advocates fear that if the North Dakota case is ultimately appealed to the Supreme Court, the high court could make it harder to enforce Section 2 protections across the country. Justice Neil Gorsuch signaled his interest in this issue with a single-paragraph opinion in 2021.
Edited by Benjamin Swasey
SHREVEPORT, La. — Investigators are looking into how a former National Guardsman identified as the gunman who killed eight children in Louisiana on Sunday got a gun — despite an illegal firearms conviction on his record.
Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is probing how the man obtained the assault-style pistol used in the shooting, which he described as a domestic violence incident.
Shamar Elkins was arrested in 2019 and convicted of illegal use of a firearm. Shreveport Police spokesman Christopher Bordelon said Elkins was likely prohibited from legally owning firearms because of that conviction.
In an interview, Bordelon said Elkins shot most of the children in the head and “probably still in their sleep.” Elkins was the father of seven of the eight children who were killed, Bordelon said; one of the children was a cousin, according to the coroner’s office.
“It is a disgusting and evil scene,” Bordelon told NBC News.
Elkins also shot and seriously injured his wife and another woman believed to be his girlfriend, police said.
He fled the scene and died in front of a home nearby, authorities said. It was not known whether he was fatally shot by law enforcement officers or died by suicide, Smith told reporters at a news conference Monday.
The mass shooting, one of the worst in the U.S. in recent years, sent waves of shock and grief through Shreveport. Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux described it as “maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had” in the city.
In an emotional news conference Monday, city and state officials condemned the bloodshed and called on community members to advocate for victims of domestic violence.
“We cannot afford to treat domestic violence as an afterthought. We must ensure that every victim, every mother, every father, every child has access to safety,” Caddo Parish Sheriff Henry L. Whitehorn Sr. said.
The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, citing information provided by the children’s mothers, identified the victims as Jayla Elkins, 3, Shayla Elkins, 5, Kayla Pugh, 6, Layla Pugh, 7, Markaydon Pugh, 10, Sariahh Snow, 11, Khedarrion Snow, 6, and Braylon Snow, 5.
Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard as a signal support system specialist and a fire support specialist from August 2013 to August 2020, the Army said. He never deployed and left the National Guard as a private.
Shreveport police officers responded to the 300 block of West 79th street just after 6 a.m. local time after reports of a domestic disturbance, authorities told reporters.
Elkins first shot a woman on nearby Harrison Street before he went to the West 79th Street home, where he killed the children, authorities said. He then fled and carjacked a person at gunpoint near the intersection of Linwood Avenue and West 79th Street.
Police officers exchanged gunfire with Elkins in neighboring Bossier Parish after a pursuit, Smith told reporters Monday.
Police initially said that officers fatally shot Elkins at that scene, but Smith said Monday that Elkins’ cause of death was still under investigation.
In September 2017, a judge granted Elkins and Sariahh’s mother joint custody following a petition to determine paternity and establish child support, according to court records reviewed by NBC News.
The photo at the top of Elkin’s Facebook profile, which has been verified by NBC News, shows him posing with eight children, including a baby seated on his lap.
On April 9, Elkins reposted a poem addressed to God. “Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions,” it reads in part. “When negativity arises, remind me to say, ‘It does not belong to me, in the name of Jesus.’”
Ryan Chandler reported from Shreveport, and Daniel Arkin from New York.
If you or someone you know is facing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence hotline for help at (800) 799-SAFE (7233), or go to www.thehotline.org for more. States often have domestic violence hotlines as well.
Louisiana
Louisiana shooter Shamar Elkins made chilling remarks about ‘demons’ weeks before killing his 7 kids and their cousin
The deranged Army vet dad who gunned down his seven children and their cousin confessed he was drowning in “dark thoughts” and told his stepdad that some people “don’t come back from their demons” just weeks before the heinous killings, according to a report.
Shamar Elkins, 31, killed eight children — five girls and three boys ages 3 to 11 — and seriously wounded two women believed to be his wife and girlfriend when he went on a shooting rampage through Shreveport following an argument with his spouse around 6 a.m. Sunday.
Just weeks ago, on Easter Sunday, Elkins called his mother, Mahelia Elkins, and his stepfather, Marcus Jackson, and chillingly told them he was drowning in “dark thoughts,” wanted to end his life, and that his wife, Shaneiqua Pugh, wanted a divorce, the New York Times reported.
“I told him, ‘You can beat stuff, man. I don’t care what you’re going through, you can beat it,’” Jackson told the publication. “Then I remember him telling me: ‘Some people don’t come back from their demons.’”
Mahelia Elkins said she was unclear what problems her son and his wife, who were married in 2024 and had four kids together, were dealing with, the Times reported.
But a relative of one of the wounded women said the couple was in the middle of separation proceedings and was due in court on Monday.
They had been arguing about their relationship coming to an end when Elkins — who was later killed by cops — opened fire, Crystal Brown told the Associated Press.
The killer father worked at UPS and served with the Louisiana Army National Guard from August 2013 to August 2020 as a signal support system specialist and fire support specialist, according to the Times.
A UPS coworker described Elkins as a devoted dad, but said he often seemed stressed and would pull his hair out, creating a lasting bald spot, the publication reported.
Elkins’ mother noted that she had reconnected with her son more than a decade ago after leaving him to be raised by a family friend, Betty Walker. She had Elkins when she was a teenager and struggling with a crack cocaine addiction.
Walker said that she did not witness the shootings on Sunday morning but knew that Elkins shot his wife several times in the head and stomach, the paper reported.
She last saw the deranged father when his family came over for dinner just last weekend — but noted he did not appear off at the time.
“I was getting up this morning to make myself some coffee, and I got the call,” Walker recalled. “My babies — my babies are gone.”
Elkins also had two previous convictions, including for driving while intoxicated in 2016 and for the illegal use of weapons in 2019, the outlet said.
In March 2019, a police report detailed that the National Guard vet had pulled a 9 millimeter handgun from his waistband and shot at a vehicle five times after a driver pulled a handgun on him — with one of the bullets being discovered near a school where children were playing.
The victims killed by Elkins have been identified as Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5. Seven of the eight were his own children, and the eighth was their cousin. They were all found dead inside their home in Shreveport.
Most of the victims were shot in the head while they slept, Shreveport Police Department spokesman Christopher Bordelon told NBC News.
One child was killed on the roof while trying to escape, police said.
Elkins, who was later killed by police during an attempted carjacking, also shot and wounded two women — the mothers of his children — during his murderous rage.
He shot his wife in the face at the home with the eight kids, Bordelon told the outlet. The other injured victim is believed to be Elkins’ girlfriend, who was shot in a separate house nearby, the police spokesperson added.
Elkins shared four of the slain children with his wife and three with the other injured woman, according to Brown.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788.
Yasin Gungor
19 April 2026•Update: 19 April 2026
At least eight children were killed and two others were wounded in a shooting in the US state of Louisiana, local police said Sunday.
Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Christopher Bordelon said officers responded to the shooting just after 6 am (1100GMT), following a domestic disturbance call.
The age of the deceased ranged from one to 14 years, he said, adding that the incident involved at least 10 individuals across four separate locations.
The suspect attempted to flee by carjacking a vehicle and driving to neighboring Bossier City, where police located and shot him dead.
Bordelon said Shreveport police officers pursued the suspect’s vehicle into Bossier, where three officers discharged their firearms, killing him. He said investigators believe the suspect was the only person who opened fire at the locations.
Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux described the attack as “maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had,” adding: “It’s a terrible morning.”
No immediate information was available about the condition of the injured.
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