The Supreme Court has recently approved a new congressional map for the state of Louisiana, containing two majority-Black districts to be implemented in the 2024 elections. The decision to move forward with this map comes after the justices blocked a ruling from a federal court that had initially prohibited the state from using the new map on the grounds of excessive reliance on race as a factor in its creation. This decision is outlined in a
brief unsigned order.
The court’s decision leans on the Purcell principle, an election doctrine advocating against last-minute changes to election rules to avoid mass voter confusion and potential disruptions for election officials. With this decision, the Supreme Court puts the federal court’s ruling on hold while an appeal progresses.
The 2024 map gained support from the Louisiana secretary of state, arguing that its creation was spurred by another federal court ruling. This earlier decision found that a previous map, which contained only one majority-Black district, was in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
However, not all parties were in agreement with the decision. The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the recent order. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stated her belief that invoking the Purcell principle was premature, and there was no need for the Supreme Court to intervene at this stage.
The map debate began following a lawsuit filed by Black voters and civil rights groups against the congressional map drafted by the Louisiana legislature for the 2022 elections. Despite Black people accounting for roughly a third of the state’s population according to the 2020 census, the legislature adopted a plan that only included one majority-Black district. Subsequently, this plan was deemed likely to violate the federal Voting Rights Act by U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick.
In response, the Louisiana legislature proposed a new map in January comprising two majority-Black districts. Yet the new map, S.B.8, soon faced opposition from a group of 12 white voters claiming it was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. By late April, a divided three-judge district court agreed and blocked the state from using the S.B.8 map in upcoming elections.
The legality and fairness of this situation are currently in dispute as Louisiana prepares for the 2024 elections. For more details on the ongoing issue, read the full report on SCOTUSblog.