In a win for Republicans, the Supreme Court revived Louisiana's congressional map Tuesday by granting a stay on lower court injunctions.
The high court noted it will hold the case while it mulls a similar redistricting scuffle in Alabama during its next term. The Supreme Court agreed to issue the stay after Justice Samuel Alito received and referred the matter to the court. Three liberal members of the high court dissented.
"The application for stay presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is granted. The district court’s June 6, 2022, preliminary injunctions ... are stayed. In addition, the application for stay is treated as a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment, and the petition is granted. The case is held in abeyance pending this Court’s decision," the order says.
Earlier this month, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction against the map and ordered a new one drawn. The map hewed closely to the state's prior congressional map, but the judge agreed with the plaintiffs that it likely breached the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of black voters in the state.
Roughly one-third of Louisiana's population is black, but the Bayou State only has one majority-black district, the 2nd Congressional District, which has a 62% black population. The judge ordered a new map that added a second majority-black district. The GOP currently holds five of the state's six seats — 83% of the state's congressional seats in a state former President Donald Trump won by 58.46% in 2020. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Gerald Herbert/AP |
A federal judge had directed the state legislature to create an additional district more favorable to Black voters
The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared Louisiana to use this fall a Republican-drawn congressional map that a federal district judge said likely diminishes the electoral power of the state’s Black voters.
The justices agreed with a request by the state’s Republican secretary of state to put on hold U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick’s order that the state create a second district where African Americans would have the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. An appeals court backed the district court’s decision, but the state legislature refused to redraw the map.
The Supreme Court majority on Tuesday did not supply a reason for granting the state’s request, as is common in emergency orders. But it noted the court has accepted for the term that begins in October a case from Alabama that raises similar questions about a state’s obligation to create what can be known as majority-minority districts under the Voting Rights Act.
The court’s three liberal justices — Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — said they would have denied the state’s request. That would have meant new districts before the fall elections. --->READ MORE HEREFollow link below to a relevant story:
+++++Supreme Court allows Louisiana to use congressional map that lower court said likely violates Voting Rights Act+++++
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