NYT:  

…Election law experts, civil rights groups and politicians are watching Wednesday’s case closely because of the immediate, enormous impact it could have on local, state and federal districts….

“You’re going to essentially cast doubt on dozens of congressional districts at a time when we’re undergoing incredible political polarization and a lack of confidence in the electoral system,” said Nathaniel Persily, a law professor at Stanford and an elections law expert….

“If they decide to invalidate Section 2 as applied to redistricting, Louisiana’s going to redistrict,” said Travis Crum, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who studies voting rights, race and federalism. “Alabama’s going to redistrict. This would just add fuel to that fire and would result in the dismantling of many majority-Black districts across the country.”

.…Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Law School and voting rights expert, said the court had clearly been considering race and voting maps since it reviewed the Alabama case two years ago.

And while it is too early to divine the direction of the court this time, he said, the path of the case to this week’s argument seems clear.

“It squarely puts the Voting Rights Act in the court’s sight,” he said.