WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide a thorny legal dispute from Louisiana involving the state's effort to draw a congressional district map while navigating claims it is unlawfully considering race.
One lawsuit claimed that the state had to draw a map containing two majority Black districts to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.
A federal court struck the new map down, but with time running out to finalize the congressional districts before this year’s elections, state officials successfully asked the Supreme Court to put the lower court decision on hold in May.
The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority that, in a surprising move, buttressed the federal Voting Rights Act in 2023 in another racial gerrymandering case involving the congressional map in Alabama.
The court will hear oral arguments and issue a ruling in the Louisiana case during its current term, which ends in June.
Persons:
WASHINGTON —, Benjamin Aguiñaga, Mike Johnson, “, Phillip Callais
Organizations:
Republican, Legal Defense Fund, ”, Republicans, Representatives
Locations:
Louisiana, American, Black, Alabama