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7h ago

Louisiana Urges Supreme Court to Bar Use of Race in Redistricting, Challenging Voting Rights Act

The court will rehear the case on Oct. 15 following the state's reversal, a bid to invalidate Section 2.

Black Louisiana voters and civil rights advocates call on the Supreme Court to uphold a fair and representative congressional map in Louisiana v. Callais at the Supreme Court of the United States on March 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks to reporters on Jan. 1, 2025, in New Orleans.
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Overview

  • Luisiana filed a new brief abandoning its defense of the 2024 map and arguing that race-based districting is unconstitutional even for Voting Rights Act compliance.
  • State lawyers urged the justices to deem Section 2 and the Gingles framework unlawful or unworkable, asserting that the Constitution forbids race-conscious line drawing.
  • The Supreme Court ordered supplemental briefing and asked whether Louisiana’s intentional creation of a second majority‑minority district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments.
  • NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the ACLU, and other voting‑rights groups filed briefs defending Section 2 and asked the Court to reinstate the remedial map or direct a new remedy for the proven vote‑dilution violation.
  • Lower courts previously found Louisiana’s 2022 map likely diluted Black voting power, a three‑judge panel later struck down the 2024 remedial plan as a racial gerrymander, and experts warn a ruling for Louisiana could reduce majority‑Black districts nationwide.