Supreme Court to weigh use of race in redistricting
Source: Roll Call
Posted March 21, 2025 at 3:07pm
The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Monday over the fate of Louisiana’s second Black-majority congressional district, in a pair of cases that could shape how state lawmakers can use race when drawing new congressional maps. Parties in the case have urged the justices to clarify the “breathing room” states get between the statutory and constitutional requirements of drawing district lines, as part of the tangled court fights over the state’s redistricting efforts since the 2020 census.
On Louisiana’s first congressional map, a judge found the state violated the discrimination protections in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and ordered the map redrawn. Then, on that second map, a separate court found the state violated the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on racial discrimination and ordered it redrawn again. “Louisiana is tired,” the state said in its Supreme Court brief, citing the years of litigation over the racial gerrymandering claims.
The sides have asked for more sweeping decisions about how states can provide opportunities for minority voters to elect representatives of their choice — as required by the VRA — without those efforts emphasizing race so much they run afoul of the Constitution.
In one direction, Louisiana seeks a ruling that would mean federal courts could not review constitutional racial gerrymandering claims at all, similar to a Supreme Court ruling on partisan gerrymandering claims several years ago. In the other direction, voters challenging the state’s second map want the justices to rule states should face the highest level of court scrutiny to show they did not violate the 14th Amendment in their efforts to carve up the state’s districts to comply with the VRA. But such major changes in the intersection of the VRA and 14th Amendment seems less likely considering recent Supreme Court decisions, some experts say.
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/03/21/supreme-court-to-weigh-use-of-race-in-redistricting/
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