The Supreme Court docket will hear a brand new spherical of arguments over Louisiana’s addition of a second majority-Black congressional district, a case that raises consequential questions on the way forward for the Voting Rights Act.
The courtroom was anticipated to launch the choice on Friday together with its different closing opinions of the time period.
“These cases are restored to the calendar for reargument. In due course, the Court will issue an order scheduling argument and specifying any additional questions to be addressed in supplemental briefing,” the courtroom’s unsigned order reads.
The bulk didn’t clarify their reasoning or the main focus of the brand new arguments. Louisiana’s map will stay in impact till the final word determination.
Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, saying he would’ve determined the case now. Thomas raised considerations the Supreme Court docket’s interpretation of the Voting Rights Act breaches the Structure.
“That decision should be straightforward. Nevertheless, the Court demurs,” Thomas wrote.
The choice is uncommon and provides to a longstanding saga over whether or not the state ought to have a second majority-Black district. The excessive courtroom indicated it will revisit the state’s congressional map after a bunch of “non-African American voters” challenged the map, arguing it constituted an unconstitutional racial gerrymander given the state’s lengths to adjust to the Voting Rights Act too far.
Friday’s end result leaves unresolved the long-running redistricting battle, which now has turned to states’ “breathing room” to adjust to the Voting Rights Act earlier than their efforts violate the 14th Modification’s equal safety assure.
The battle started after the 2020 census, when the Republican-controlled legislature overrode then-Gov. John Bel Edwards’s (D) veto of a congressional map that included just one majority-Black district.
Black voters and civil rights organizations sued beneath Part 2 of the Voting Rights Act, claiming the design diluted the ability of Black voters.
A 3-judge panel agreed. The Supreme Court docket briefly revived the map for the 2022 midterms, solely to later toss Louisiana’s enchantment upon deciding one other redistricting case in Alabama.
Republican leaders in Louisiana grew involved {that a} courtroom would quickly step in to attract the boundaries in the event that they didn’t act. So begrudgingly, they stopped litigating and handed a brand new map that added a second majority-Black district.
Like the primary, the brand new map got here beneath a authorized problem. This time, a bunch of self-described “non-African American” voters claimed the legislature unconstitutionally sorted Black voters into the brand new district in violation of the 14th Modification’s equal safety assure.
The case returned to the Supreme Court docket after a three-judge panel agreed with the voters and invalidated the brand new design. The excessive courtroom allowed it to enter impact for final yr’s elections as they thought-about the case.
Louisiana argues it was inside its “breathing room” to repair the sooner Voting Rights Act violation. The state additionally contended race didn’t predominate as a result of the brand new district’s snakelike form was an effort to guard high-profile incumbents, together with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) and Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.), who sits on the highly effective Home Appropriations Committee.
However above all else, Louisiana in its enchantment pleaded to the justices for steerage on the way it can draw a legally sound map.
Up to date: 11:41 a.m. ET
