The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Monday over the fate of Louisiana’s second Black-majority congressional district, in a pair of cases that could shape how state lawmakers can use race when drawing new congressional maps.
Parties in the case have urged the justices to clarify the “breathing room” states get between the statutory and constitutional requirements of drawing district lines, as part of the tangled court fights over the state’s redistricting efforts since the 2020 census.
On Louisiana’s first congressional map, a judge found the state violated the discrimination protections in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and ordered the map redrawn. Then, on that second map, a separate court found the state violated the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on racial discrimination and ordered it redrawn again.
