SCOTLANDVILLE, LOUISIANA — Democratic Representative Cleo Fields announced in July 2026 that he would not run for reelection to the U.S. House after Louisiana redrew his congressional district into a majority-white configuration. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Fields' district was unconstitutional in 2026, prompting the state to redraw boundaries that altered the demographic composition of the area.

Democratic Representative Fields represents Louisiana's 6th Congressional District, which includes Scotlandville. The Black voting age population in Fields' district decreased from 53% to 25% under the new congressional map. Scotlandville has been redrawn into a majority white congressional district for the second time. The second redistricting of Scotlandville occurred in 2026 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a core part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional.

Scotlandville is a predominantly Black community located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Fields grew up in Scotlandville and graduated from Southern University A&M. "Everything you see with the institute is result of me being a member of Congress," Fields said. He is 63 years old.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a core part of the Voting Rights Act intended to protect minorities' political rights was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court's 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais explicitly stated that Louisiana's 2024 congressional map, which included a second majority-Black district, violated the Equal Protection Clause because the state failed to demonstrate a compelling interest for using race in redistricting. The U.S. Supreme Court's 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais overruled a precedent (Robinson v. Ardoin) that had required states to create majority-Black districts in certain cases, effectively weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and enabling more racially neutral redistricting.

Fields plans to return to the Louisiana State Legislature instead of running for reelection to the U.S. House. Community members expressed concern about the impact of the new map on local representation. "The community is small and everybody knows everybody. Cleo is a member of our community. If he doesn’t speak up and carry our voices, there’s nobody else to do that for us." said Dakasha Caulfield Leonard, a business owner.

Press Robinson Sr., a community activist, criticized the redistricting process. "We’re back to where we were right after Reconstruction," Press Robinson Sr. said. "When they redistrict, they are not concerned about the effect it has on those of us who are people of color." Anthony Kenney is the District 2 councilman for the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council. "They disenfranchise people of color and they’ve done it again," Press Robinson Sr. said.

Why It Matters

The reduction of the Black voting age population in the district from 53% to 25% marks a shift in political power for a community that has historically relied on majority-Black districts for representation. The ruling enables more racially neutral redistricting across multiple states, with Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee redrawing their U.S. House districts in 2026 in time for the November elections. In Alabama, the Black voting age population in Democratic Representative Shomari Figueres' district dropped from 50% to 40% under new political lines. In Tennessee, the majority Black district anchored by Nashville was split between three other districts.

Timeline

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required states with a history of racial discrimination to get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before congressional maps could take effect. Fields first entered Congress in 1993 representing a majority Black 4th District. The first redistricting of Scotlandville into a majority white district occurred in 1996 following a lawsuit by voters. A federal court ruled in 1996 that the boundaries of Louisiana's 4th District were unconstitutional.

The 2024 redistricting in Louisiana followed a 2023 court decision involving Alabama that required fairer representation for minorities. Fields won election to the U.S. House in 2024 after Louisiana redrew district lines to create a majority Black district. Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee redrew their U.S. House districts in 2026 in time for the November elections.

What's New

Later reporting clarified that the Supreme Court's 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Additional context revealed that in 1996, a federal court ruled that Louisiana's 4th Congressional District, which included Scotlandville, had unconstitutional boundaries that diluted Black voting power, leading to a redistricting that shifted Scotlandville into a majority-white district.

Further details indicated that in 2022, a federal judge in Robinson v. Ardoin ruled that Louisiana's congressional map likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by failing to create an additional majority-Black district, setting a precedent for later challenges to racial gerrymandering in the state.

Reports also noted that the new 6th Congressional District, drawn after the 2026 redistricting, includes a share of voters who supported Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, compared to 2020, indicating a shift toward Republican-leaning demographics. In 2023, a federal court in Alabama ordered the state to redraw its congressional map to ensure fairer representation for minorities, setting a precedent that influenced Louisiana's 2026 redistricting efforts. A 2024 federal court ruling in Callais v. Landry found that Louisiana's SB8 map violated the Equal Protection Clause by using race as a predominant factor in drawing district lines, citing explicit evidence of racial motivation in the redistricting process.