The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority has handed Republicans their biggest victory yet in the battle to control the House of Representatives and statehouses across the country. But Wednesday's decision might have come too late to have much of an effect on this year’s midterm elections. The 6-3 ruling effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act’s requirement that districts be drawn to give minority voters a chance to elect representatives of their choosing. Republican lawmakers across the country — and especially in the South — have a freer hand to eliminate Democratic-leaning districts and boost the number of U.S. House seats they can win.