Supreme Court to hear case on Louisiana redistricting dispute

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - The Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case on Monday that challenges Louisiana’s congressional map after it was redrawn to include a new majority-black district.

The case began years ago, when Louisiana’s state legislature drew a congressional map following the 2020 census. It included one majority-Black district out of the state’s six. The map was challenged because roughly a third of the state’s population is Black.

“After years and years of litigation, the legislature was finally compelled to do the right thing and a map that provided black voters with a fair opportunity to participate, and specifically to elect their candidate of choice. Now, in two districts” said Victoria Wegner, an attorney with the Legal Defense Fund, which has been heavily involved in the Louisiana redistricting litigation.

After the creation of the new majority-black district, the state’s second black Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields (D-LA) was elected in November.

But even before that election happened, another lawsuit challenging the new map was filed by a group of non-black voters. They allege that the state engaged in illegal racial gerrymandering, violating the U.S. constitution.

“Basically the state predominantly, we would say solely used race to draw to force a second Black majority district. It imposed a two district quota on the state,” said Edward Greim, who is an attorney for the defendants in the case before the Supreme Court.

While the November elections were allowed to proceed with two majority-Black districts, a lower court did end up siding with the group of non-Black voters. That ruling resulted in the state and civil rights groups appealing to Supreme Court to allow them to continue to use the redrawn maps.

Both sides say a lot is at stake in this case, not for just Louisiana but for voters everywhere.

“It’s going to forecast how redistricting is conducted for decades to come. And for Louisianans, it’s going to determine the fairness of their map, representation for black voters,” said Wegner.

“What’s at stake here is basically whether a state can purposely classify voters based on their race and use a racial stereotype to draw congressional districts,” said Greim. “The question is really whether the 14th Amendment has any teeth at all.”

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