The Supreme Court will hear a new round of arguments over Louisiana’s addition of a second majority-Black congressional district, a case that raises consequential questions about the future of the Voting Rights Act.
The court was expected to release the decision Friday along with its other final opinions of the term.
“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 court’s unsigned order reads.
The majority did not explain its reasoning or the focus of the new arguments. Louisiana’s map will remain in effect until the ultimate decision.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, saying he would’ve decided the case now. Thomas raised concerns the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Voting Rights Act breaches the Constitution.
“That decision should be straightforward. Nevertheless, the Court demurs,” Thomas wrote.
The decision is unusual and adds to a long-running saga over whether the state should have a second majority-Black district. The high court indicated it would revisit the congressional map after a group of “non-African American voters” challenged it, arguing the state took its efforts to comply with the Voting Rights Act too far and resulted in an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
Friday’s outcome leaves unresolved the years-long redistricting battle, which now has turned to the issue of states’ “breathing room” to comply with the Voting Rights Act before their efforts violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee.
The battle began after the 2020 census, when Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature overrode then-Gov. John Bel Edwards’s (D) veto of a congressional map that included only one majority-Black district.
Black voters and civil rights organizations sued under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, claiming the design diluted the power of Black voters.
A three-judge panel agreed. The Supreme Court temporarily revived the map for the 2022 midterms, and later tossed Louisiana’s appeal upon deciding another redistricting case in Alabama.
Republican leaders in Louisiana grew concerned a court would soon step in to draw the boundaries if they didn’t act. So, begrudgingly, they stopped litigating and passed a new map that added a second majority-Black district.
Like the first, the new map came under a legal challenge. This time, a group of self-described “non-African American” voters claimed the Legislature unconstitutionally sorted Black voters into the new district in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee.
The case returned to the Supreme Court after a three-judge panel agreed with the voters and invalidated the new design. The high court allowed it to go into effect for last year’s elections as they considered the case.
Louisiana argues it was within its “breathing room” to fix the earlier Voting Rights Act violation. The state also contended race didn’t predominate, saying the new district’s snakelike shape was actually an effort to protect high-profile incumbents, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R) and Rep. Julia Letlow (R), who sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
But above all else, Louisiana in its appeal pleaded to the justices for guidance on how it can draw a legally sound map.
Updated at 11:41 a.m. EDT
