The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to intervene in a Louisiana congressional map dispute, potentially delaying the implementation of a new map that could create a district that boosts the power of Black voters in the state.
The brief order will come as a disappointment to critics who say conservative-led states are trying to stall court orders requiring new maps that would impact the balance of power in the House of Representatives next fall.
There were no noted dissents.
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a brief concurrence saying she agreed with the court’s denial but that the decision was temporary and leaves open the possibility that the court could intervene at a later date.
In June 2022, a district court judge ordered that Louisiana’s map – with only one Black-majority district out of six in a state with a 33% Black population – should be redrawn with a second Black-majority district.
After months of litigation, the district court had scheduled a hearing slated to discuss proposals for the new map. But a federal appeals court issued an order canceling that hearing in order to give the state more time to propose new maps.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund asked the justices to lift that order, but they declined to do so on Thursday.
The case is one of several that has come before the justices in recent months concerning race and congressional representation that could impact which party controls the House after next year’s elections.
The court previously ordered Alabama to redraw its congressional map to account for the state’s 27% Black voting population, which was introduced this month.
Earlier this month, the justices considered whether South Carolina engaged in impermissible racial gerrymandering.
Louisiana process
The Louisiana challenge is currently continuing on two tracks. The district court is seeking to remedy a Voting Rights violation, while a federal appeals court is already considering whether to put that ruling on hold.
In August, the district court judge overseeing the case ordered a hearing for early October in order to select a new congressional map in the state. It came after expansive discovery and a five-day preliminary injunction hearing. While the state chose not to propose new remedial maps, the challengers, including the NAACP-LDF, proposed their own. At the hearing the court was expected to select a new map.
But Republican officials went to a federal appeals court asking for a delay. The panel of judges on the appeals court agreed to delay the hearing, holding that the state hadn’t had enough time to propose new maps.
Lawyers for the civil rights group urged the justices to step in and reverse the order from the panel of judges on the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
“While the panel’s principal rationale for issuing the writ was that the Louisiana Legislature should be afforded an opportunity to enact a new map in compliance with the district court’s injunction, the Legislature has already had multiple opportunities to enact a new map and has not done so,” Stuart Naifeh of the NAACP-LDF told the justices in court papers.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
