The U.S. Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on Aug. 1 asking for supplemental briefs in Louisiana v. Callais, a case that claims Louisiana’s new six-district congressional map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Louisiana and a coalition of Black voters who support the 2024 map must file by Aug. 27; the “non-African American” voters challenging the plan have until Sept. 17, with replies due Oct. 3. The justices already heard oral argument in March but held off any decision in the case, signaling they wanted additional input before deciding whether the second majority-Black district created last year should stand.
The dispute traces back to the legislature’s 2022 map, which kept just one majority-Black district even though Black residents make up roughly one-third of the state. A federal district court, and later the 5th Circuit, said that the plan likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and ordered lawmakers to draw a second opportunity district. The legislature responded with a 2024 map containing a Shreveport-to-Baton Rouge district. A different set of voters then sued, claiming the new lines “sorted voters by race” in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments; a three-judge federal panel agreed, but the Supreme Court stayed that ruling and allowed the 2024 map to be used in midterm elections. Read more in ScotusBlog.com, Reuters, and Washingtonpost.
The Court’s request for new briefs spotlights a long-running tension: Section 2 can require states to draw majority-minority districts, yet the Constitution bars race from being the predominant line-drawing factor unless the plan can survive “strict scrutiny.” Louisiana argues it focused on race only to comply with the lower-court order, while the challengers say the state went too far. Election-law scholar Rick Hasen warns the justices appear to be asking whether Section 2 itself “violates a color-blind understanding of the Constitution,” a question that could shrink one of the Act’s last remaining enforcement tools.
Legal analysts note that a ruling limiting Section 2 could reverberate well beyond Louisiana, influencing ongoing map battles in Alabama, Georgia, and Texas and potentially affecting control of the next U.S. House.
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