U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raised a key question following the court’s 6-3 ruling this week to allow a Louisiana congressional district map that includes a second mostly black district to be used in the fall elections.
The Supreme Court was called upon to intervene following a string of legal disputes regarding Louisiana’s congressional district redistricting. Despite being historically Republican, the state faced challenges after a district judge ruled in 2022 that a prior map drawn by GOP-controlled state legislatures infringed upon the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Subsequently, Louisiana’s state legislature endorsed a new map in January that incorporated a second black-majority district. The previous map aimed to maintain the “status quo” in the state, featuring only one district with a majority of black voters, despite black residents comprising roughly one-third of the state’s population.
Later, disputes over congressional district boundaries were taken to a federal three-judge panel following a challenge by a group of Louisiana voters, who identified as “non-African American,” against the redrawn map. The panel determined that the new map was unconstitutional based solely on racial factors.
