Supreme Court says Louisiana can use congressional map that includes second black majority district

The United States Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the state of Louisiana can use a new congressional map that includes a second majority black district in this year's general election.

The ruling comes after years of debates over the redrawn districts, which are supposed to be based on the population of the state. But critics of the new maps claim that race played a clear factor in the creation of two of the districts, which feature predominately black voters. 

The Supreme Court approved two emergency requests that were filed by Republican state officials and civil rights groups, who attempted to block a lower federal court's ruling that invalidated the most recently drawn map. The officials who filed the appeal, said it was critical that the high court weighs in to avoid confusion in November, per the Associated Press.

The new order does not determine the validity of the lower court's ruling, but says another congressional map cannot be drawn up before the general election.

The ruling was split among party lines, with the three liberal justices dissenting, and six conservatives approving the request. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson attempted to argue that there was still time for the state to sort out its issues with the district lines before November. But the ruling is considered a victory for Louisiana Democrats.

“Rather than wading in now, I would have let the District Court’s remedial process run its course before considering whether our emergency intervention was warranted,” Jackson wrote in her opinion, CNN reported. “There is little risk of voter confusion from a new map being imposed this far out from the November election."

The new map breaks up GOP Rep. Garrett Graves’ district to create the second district, in which 56% of residents are black. The lines of the new district stretch from northwest Louisiana down to East Baton Rouge, according to Politico.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.