The Supreme Court announced Monday it will take up the fight over Louisiana’s congressional map, which has erupted into a messy legal battle over how to fix a racially gerrymandered design.
The court’s decision will not impact this week’s elections, as the justices previously allowed the Legislature’s new map that includes a second majority-Black district to move forward until they resolve the case.
Yet the outcome stands to dictate whether Louisiana’s map can survive in future years and carry broader repercussions for how remedial designs can be drawn once a court strikes down a map under the Voting Rights Act.
A decision is expected by next summer.
Louisiana’s redistricting fight began after the 2020 census, when the Republican-led Legislature overrode the Democratic governor’s veto to approve a new congressional map.
Like its predecessor, the design included only one majority-Black district. Two groups comprising Black voters and civil rights organizations sued, citing the increase in the state’s Black population.