OVERRULED

Supreme Court Blocks Majority-Black Voting District in Louisiana

The justices, with the three liberals in dissent, overruled a lower court decision requiring the state to draw a second majority-Black congressional district.

The Supreme Court granted Louisiana Republicans’ emergency request to block a lower court decision requiring lawmakers to redraw the congressional map to include a second majority-Black district. On June 6, a district court judge ruled that Louisiana, which is 33 percent Black and has six House congressional districts, had to include another majority-Black district. Yet the country’s highest court, with the three liberals in dissent, overturned that decision. Two justices in the majority said that there was not enough time for lawmakers to draw a new map. Louisiana Republicans had argued that being forced to redraw districts would sow chaos prior to the 2022 midterms. The Supreme Court will hear a similar case from Alabama when its new term begins in October, and signaled that the eventual outcome of the Louisiana case will depend on their forthcoming ruling.