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The Guardian World1 min read
US supreme court rules Louisiana must redraw its congressional map in landmark case
TL;DR
The US Supreme Court has ruled that Louisiana must redraw its congressional map to better represent Black voters. This decision follows a legal battle over the state's previous map, which only allowed for one majority-Black district despite Black voters making up a third of the population.
Key points
- US Supreme Court ruled Louisiana must redraw its congressional map
- Case centered on representation of Black voters in congressional districts
- Previous map had only one majority-Black district despite a third of the population being Black
- Black voters sued under the Voting Rights Act
- New map includes a second majority-Black district
Mentioned in this story
US Supreme CourtLouisiana
Voting Rights Act
The US supreme court has ruled that Louisiana will have to redraw its congressional map, in a landmark voting rights case.
At the heart of the case, Louisiana v Callais, was a thorny question of how much lawmakers are allowed to consider race when they redraw districts to ensure that Black voters are adequately represented. The supreme court initially heard oral arguments in the case last March, but took the unusual step of asking lawyers to re-argue the case last fall. In setting the case for a re-argument, the justices raised the stakes of the case, asking lawyers to focus on whether section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was constitutional.
The decision comes after years of legal wrangling over the boundaries of the map.
After the 2020 census, the Republican-controlled state legislature drew a new congressional map in which Black voters comprised a majority in just one district despite being about a third of the state’s population. A group of Black voters sued the state in 2022 under the Voting Rights Act, arguing that the map diluted the influence of Black voters in the state by packing them into one district and spreading them out over the remaining ones.
The Black voters won the case and a federal judge blocked Louisiana from using the map and instructed the state to draw a new one with a second majority-Black district. The state complied, drawing a new map with a second-majority Black congressional district that stretches diagonally across the state from Shreveport to Baton Rouge.
But a group of non-Black voters challenged that new map, claiming that voters had unlawfully been sorted by their race in violation of the 14th amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. A three-judge panel agreed with those plaintiffs and blocked the new map from going into effect last year. That decision was paused by the supreme court and the remedial map was used in the 2024 election last fall’s election. Cleo Fields, a Black Democrat, won the seat.
During oral arguments in March, Edward Greim, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said it was obvious that race had predominated in drawing the district because it was so irregularly shaped.
Q&A
What was the Supreme Court's ruling regarding Louisiana's congressional map?
The Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana must redraw its congressional map to ensure adequate representation for Black voters.
Why did Black voters sue Louisiana over its congressional map?
Black voters sued Louisiana because the congressional map diluted their voting power by creating only one majority-Black district, despite them comprising about a third of the state's population.
What changes were made to Louisiana's congressional map after the ruling?
Following the ruling, Louisiana drew a new congressional map that includes a second majority-Black district stretching from Shreveport to Baton Rouge.
