The U.S. Supreme Court last month declined to put a hold on a federal appeals court decision that potentially delays a resolution to a lawsuit calling for a second majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana.
Plaintiffs in lawsuits filed against Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin previously filed an emergency petition with Justice Samuel Alito to stay a ruling by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court had issued an order that put the brakes on a district court’s scheduled hearing to consider the plaintiffs’ plan to expand representation for Black voters, concluding that the state Legislature merited more time to draw up a new map that complies with judicial mandates.
The plaintiffs, including the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP and several individuals, filed their initial lawsuit in March of last year, noting that the state has only one majority-Black congressional district out of six even though Black Louisiana voters make up nearly a third of registered voters. This imbalance represents a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, they said in the litigation.
The plaintiffs filed their petition to the U.S. Supreme Court over concerns that the Fifth Circuit’s ruling could disrupt the timeline to ensure a new map would be ready in time for the 2024 elections. But the senior policy counsel for the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund expressed optimism that the timeline would hold.
“... In our congressional redistricting case, we remain confident that we will have a map in place with two opportunity districts for Black voters in time for the 2024 election,” Jared Evans told the Louisiana Record in an email.
The high court’s decision included a note from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who emphasized that she agreed with the denial of emergency relief but wanted to make two additional points.
The denial should not be construed to endorse the use of the Fifth Circuit’s approach in countering a lower court in similar situations, Jackson said.
“Second, as we have previously emphasized, this litigation should be resolved ‘in advance of the 2024 congressional elections in Louisiana,’” she said. “... To that end, I read the Fifth Circuit’s mandamus ruling to require the district court to delay its remedial hearing only until the Louisiana Legislature has had sufficient time to consider alternative maps that comply with the Voting Rights Act.”
In addition, Jackson said she expects the district court in Baton Rouge to soon resume its remedial proceedings while the Fifth Circuit weighs the state’s appeal of a preliminary injunction prohibiting Louisiana from conducting any elections using the map used in 2022 elections.
The possible redrawing of congressional maps in Louisiana and other states is seen as a critical issue for the political parties in the runup to next year’s elections, since Republicans now hold only a slim majority in Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court has required Alabama to redraw its congressional districts to better reflect the Black population in that state, and the court is examining whether South Carolina’s districts are the product of racial gerrymandering.
Attorneys representing plaintiffs in the Louisiana case have argued that the state Legislature has had plenty of time to enact a map that complies with the Voting Rights Act and yet has failed to do so.