Overview
- The high court said it will issue a schedule for supplemental briefing and rearguments in October without offering an explanation for its delay
- Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing the court has mandatory jurisdiction and should promptly resolve conflicts between Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution
- Louisiana’s remedial map, which added a second majority-Black district, remains in effect and is likely to govern the 2026 congressional elections
- The dispute centers on balancing the Voting Rights Act’s mandate to prevent minority vote dilution against the Fourteenth Amendment’s ban on race-predominant districting
- Louisiana’s solicitor general has defended the map as a politically rational response to judicial orders that also helped protect key Republican incumbents