The Louisiana Redistricting Case: The End of Mandating "Majority-Minority" -- Errrr Democrat -- Congressional Districts? A Law Splainer
The claim has long been they are required by the Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act: Justice Alito -- "The law doesn't say that and it never did."
What was the Louisiana redistricting case all about?
Whether the Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act required Louisiana to redraw its congressional district boundaries after the 2020 Census in such a way as to create two — not just one — “majority-minority” districts. This was the long-accepted “remedy” to address historical race-based discrimination, a remedy that was intended to give black voters the opportunity to elect — not just vote for — a black candidate for Congress.
SB8 shown above was the 2 M-M district map produced by the Louisiana Legislature in 2023 in response to that ruling. But that’s the end of the story — not the beginning.
It a real life version of “Cool Hand Luke” —
Luke is told the ground he’s standing on is Boss Kean’s ditch, his dirt is filling up Boss Kean’s ditch, and he needed to dig his dirt out of Boss Kean’s ditch. After digging the dirt out — really just digging his own grave — another prison guard tells Luke “I’ll be damned if you are going to put your dirt in my yard,” and tells him to use his dirt to fill up the hole he’s standing in. After Luke fills up the hole, the first Boss comes back and asks why he hasn’t removed the dirt from Boss Kean’s ditch like he was told.
In 2022, a federal judge in the Middle District of Louisiana held that Louisiana’s newly drawn congressional district map after the 2020 Census, with only one “Majority-Minority” district violated Sec. 2 of the Voting Rights Act because Louisiana needed two “majority-minority” districts to address the remaining vestiges of historical discrimination against the black population of the state.
While appealing that decision, but wanting to have a compliant map for the 2022 elections in case it lost the appeal, Louisiana drew SB8 above — creating a second “majority-minority” district as ordered.
But Louisiana was sued again in 2023 over SB8, with the plaintiffs alleging that the explicit use of race to create SB8 violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. A special three-judge panel that hears such cases ruled in favor of the challengers, finding the SB8 map above to be a racial gerrymander that violated the 14th Amendment.
Like Luke — Louisiana was “damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
