The U.S.
Supreme Court recently ruled to allow a Louisiana congressional district map that includes a second mostly black district to be used in the fall elections.
This decision came after several legal disputes regarding the redrawing of Louisiana’s congressional districts.
Historically, Louisiana has been a Republican-controlled state; however, a district judge ruled in 2022 that a prior map drawn by GOP-controlled state legislatures infringed upon the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
In response to this ruling, Louisiana’s state legislature endorsed a new map in January that incorporated a second black-majority district.
The previous map aimed to maintain the “status quo” in the state, featuring only one district with a majority of black voters, despite black residents comprising roughly one-third of the state’s population.
The issue was taken to a federal three-judge panel after a group of Louisiana voters, who identified as “non-African American,” challenged the redrawn map.
The panel determined that the new map was unconstitutional based solely on racial factors.
On Wednesday, all six conservative Supreme Court justices aligned with a group of black voters to temporarily suspend the panel’s ruling.
This decision allows for the use of two black-majority districts in the upcoming November general election and enables voters to file a complete appeal of the ruling in April.
Republicans in Louisiana had urged the Supreme Court to intervene in the case to ensure sufficient time to prepare for Election Day.
The conservative majority argued that maintaining the district map was essential to prevent confusion among voters so close to the November elections.
However, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who penned the opinion of the three liberal justices opposing the decision, contended that there was sufficient time to redraw a new map before the Supreme Court needed to intervene.
She argued that there was “little risk of voter confusion” if a new map were redrawn before November and maintained that the court should have allowed the District Court’s remedial process to run its course before considering whether emergency intervention was warranted.
Attorneys who represented the group of black voters celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision, stating that “action ensures that black voters’ voices will not be silenced during this year’s critical elections.” This ruling reflects a significant moment in the fight for fair maps in Louisiana and demonstrates the strength of our democracy.