The U.S. Supreme Court handed Louisiana Democrats a win after it ordered the state Legislature's Republican majority to redraw a congressional map to include a second Black-majority district.
On Monday, the Court dismissed a GOP-led appeal from the state to push through with a new congressional map that civil rights groups argued would weaken the voting rights of Louisiana's Black residents. The plaintiffs argued that Black residents in the state would be able to elect their candidate of choice in only one of six congressional districts, despite accounting for a third of the state's population.
Instead of hearing the case themselves, justices lifted the hold from a lower court order and paved the way for a second minority district to be drawn into the map. There were no noted dissents from individual justices.
Monday's announcement comes just weeks after the Supreme Court issued a ruling about an Alabama congressional map. The justices ordered the state to redraw the map to allow for another Black-majority district in the state, where Black residents account for 27 percent of the population.
Last year, Louisiana's state officials were sued after the Legislature's passage of the congressional map over Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards' veto. Responding to the decision in Alabama, Edwards called the ruling "a win for those who believe in simple math and basic fairness" while expressing hope a similar outcome would follow in his state.
On Monday, the Louisiana Democrats celebrated the Supreme Court order, tweeting, "1/3 of 6 is still 2! Louisiana voters deserve fair maps that guarantee equal representation—and it looks like we're going to get them!"
Republican state Senator Sharon Hewitt, who helped draw the map at the center of the Louisiana lawsuit, previously said that she believed Louisiana's map was "distinct" from the one in the Alabama case and that the redistricting plans in the Bayou State would be upheld, unlike the order in Alabama.
Newsweek reached out to Hewitt by email for comment.
The decision also comes as the American public awaits Supreme Court rulings in a series of major cases during this term. Among those is a decision in another redistricting case that involves a congressional map drawn in North Carolina.
North Carolina GOP legislators are appealing a ruling from the state Supreme Court that blocked the new congressional map, which the state court said violated the state's constitution. However, lawmakers argue that state courts and the state constitution do not have authority in matters related to federal elections.
Should justices agree with North Carolina's legislators, state lawmakers across the nation would have more power over federal elections, including the next presidential election, in 2024.
