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The Supreme Court postponed ruling on Louisiana’s congressional redistricting plan until next term. The court will decide whether or not the state’s two majority-Black congressional districts violate the Voting Rights Act. Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino said it’s strange a matter like this would be prolonged.
“It is quite unusual, particularly in a case like this, where Congress has mandated that voting cases that deal with elections should be handled on a fairly expedited basis,” said Ciolino.
The move means the congressional map will remain unchanged for now. The Supreme Court hearing stems from a lawsuit from 12 “non-African-American voters” who alleged reconfigured majority-Black districts were racial gerrymandering, a stance Ciolino said Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with.
“Justice Thomas made it loud and clear in his dissent that he thinks that using the Voting Rights Act to create a Black-majority district in Louisiana violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution,” said Ciolino.
Ciolino said the issue will likely be reargued in October, and the delay makes it unclear which way the court may be leaning.
He said if a majority supports Justice Thomas’s viewpoint, “we would have a landmark decision that essentially would gut the Voting Rights Act and not allow race to be a factor in drawing congressional districts.”
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