Supreme Court to hear dispute involving Louisiana congressional map

Washington — The Supreme Court connected Monday agreed to return up a long-running redistricting conflict successful Louisiana that could find whether nan authorities maintains a legislature representation that includes 2 majority-Black districts aft nan 2024 election.

The court's determination to perceive nan entreaty from a group of Black voters and nan authorities marks astatine slightest nan 3rd clip it will measurement into nan ineligible conflict complete voting lines for Louisiana's U.S. House districts that were drawn aft nan 2020 Census. The justices will perceive arguments adjacent year, pinch a determination expected by summertime 2025.

The astir caller legislature map, enacted successful January aft national courts rejected earlier voting bounds, remains successful spot for nan upcoming election, arsenic nan Supreme Court successful May gave nan greenish light for it to beryllium utilized this cycle.

A three-judge territory tribunal sheet had blocked nan authorities from utilizing nan recently drawn representation successful immoderate upcoming predetermination aft uncovering it to beryllium an unconstitutional group gerrymander. But nan precocious tribunal put that determination connected hold.

The winding conflict complete Louisiana's legislature redistricting scheme began successful 2022, erstwhile Republican authorities lawmakers adopted a representation consisting of 5 majority-White House districts and 1 majority-Black territory moreover though astir one-third of nan state's organization is Black.

Black voters and civilian authorities groups successfully challenged nan plan's legality, arguing it diluted nan voting spot of number residents successful usurpation of Section 2 of nan Voting Rights Act.

Agreeing pinch nan challengers, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick blocked Louisiana from utilizing nan lines drawn successful 2022 successful immoderate elections and gave authorities lawmakers nan opportunity to tie a caller representation that included an further majority-Black legislature district.

While nan litigation was underway, nan Supreme Court cleared nan way for Louisiana to proceed pinch redrawing its legislature territory lines, arsenic Dick had ordered. A national appeals tribunal past group a Jan. 15 deadline for authorities lawmakers to trade a caller redistricting scheme pinch a second-majority Black district.

Shortly aft nan authorities legislature convened for a typical convention to tie caller lines, it adopted a representation that lawmakers said satisfied nan territory court's ruling and besides achieved definite governmental objectives. The scheme protects definite "pivotal" Republican incumbents,  according to GOP authorities senators, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Julia Letlow, nan only female successful Louisiana's legislature delegation.

But nan caller representation changed nan territory of GOP Rep. Garret Graves, who backed Gov. Jeff Landry's Republican force successful nan 2023 gubernatorial title and didn't publically support Scalise successful his unsuccessful bid for House speaker.

Graves' District 6 was reconfigured to create nan 2nd majority-minority district. It now stretches from Shreveport, successful Louisiana's northwest corner, to Baton Rouge, successful nan southeast, and connects predominantly Black populations from Shreveport, Alexandria, Lafayette and Baton Rouge.

The caller scheme kicked disconnected nan situation that is now earlier nan Supreme Court, arsenic a group of 12 "non-African-American" voters based on it is simply a group gerrymander that violates nan 14th Amendment. They claimed that nan legislature engaged successful "explicit, group segregation of voters and intentional discrimination" based connected title and created 2 majority-Black districts without considering accepted redistricting criteria.

A divided three-judge territory tribunal sheet sided pinch nan voters and concluded that nan representation is an impermissible group gerrymander. That decision, though, was halted by nan Supreme Court aft Louisiana Republicans and Black voters successfully sought to usage nan caller map successful nan upcoming elections.

State GOP officials person lambasted nan ineligible process that led them backmost to nan precocious tribunal again, lamenting successful a filing to nan justices that they are "stuck successful an endless crippled of ping-pong — and nan authorities is nan ball, not a player."

They told nan justices nan litigation complete nan redistricting scheme forced them into a "lose-lose situation" — nan legislature had to see title to remedy nan Section 2 usurpation nan little courts identified successful nan first representation from 2022, but successful doing so, considered title excessively much, arsenic nan three-judge territory tribunal sheet recovered erstwhile it evaluated nan caller voting lines.

"Cases for illustration this exemplify that location is seemingly nary extremity to nan torture-by-litigation that States strengthen aft each redistricting cycle," nan authorities Republican officials wrote successful their filing.

In:
• Supreme Court of nan United States
• Louisiana