Background
On conclusion of the 2020 United States census, the state of Louisiana was assigned six seats in the United States House of Representatives. The census also found that about one third of the state were black. The Louisiana State Legislature, where the Republican Party held a majority, approved of new maps that were largely unchanged from those in the previous decade, giving the state five districts non-black majorities and only one with a black majority. [1]
The new maps were challenged in court by black voters, claiming it violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which disallows discrimination by race in elections. Federal district judge Shelly Dick ruled in June 2022 that the new map did violate the VRA and ordered the legislature to draw up a new map that respected two black-majority districts to reflect the census results. [2] The state's secretary of state Kyle Ardoin requested a stay of Dick's order to the Fifth Circuit, which refused to grant the motion. Ardoin then sought relief from the Supreme Court, which granted a stay of the order until they had decided on a similar redistricting case from Alabama, Allen v. Milligan , where the state's new redistricting map had reduced the number of black-majority districts compared to their proportion of the state's population. [3]
The Supreme Court ruled in Allen v. Milligan in June 2023 that Alabama's new redistricting map violated the VRA. [4] In wake of that decision, the Supreme Court lifted its stay of Dick's ruling, returning the case to the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit established that the state legislature must come up with a new map respecting the Allen decision by January 30, 2024, as to be ready for the 2024 general elections, or else Dick would draw up a new map. [5] The state legislature held a special session in January 2024 to approve the new map with a second black-majority district. [6]
On issuance of the new maps, a group calling themselves "non-African-American voters" filed suit against the state, claiming the new districts were racially gerrymandered and violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. [6] As this was a constitutional challenge rather than a statutory challenge, the case was heard by a panel of three federal district judges from the Western District of Louisiana, rather than a single judge; the panel ruled in a 2-1 decision that the new map was racially gerrymandered and blocked use of the new map in May 2024. The state sought a stay from the Supreme Court claiming it was too close to the election to derive a new map. The Supreme Court ordered that the state use the new January 2024 maps with the second black-majority district for the 2024 elections due to the timing, but did not rule on the merits of the panel's decision. [7]
Supreme Court
Two separate petitions were made to the Supreme Court to hear the challenge on the district panel discussion, one from the state itself (Louisiana v. Callais) and another from black voters and groups like NAACP (Robinson v. Callais). The Supreme Court certified both cases and consolidated them in November 2024. [8]
Oral hearings were first held on March 24, 2025. [9] The court issued an order on June 27, 2025, to hold a second oral session in the 2025 term, with only Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting from this. [10]
During the recess prior to the 2025 term, the Supreme Court issued an order asking all parties to submit briefs on whether the new maps violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Several news commentators said this move suggested the Supreme Court was considering that complying with Section 2 of the VRA would be unconstitutional, further weakening the VRA. [11] [12] [13] Among these briefs, Louisiana submitted a brief stating the state was no longer defending its position in the case at the Supreme Court, and instead was arguing to advance the claim that the new maps violated the 14th and 15th Amendment. [14]
The second oral session for the case is scheduled for October 15, 2025.
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