ICYMI: NRF Calls on SCOTUS to Keep Louisiana’s Fair Congressional Map Ahead of Oral Argument in Redistricting Case

For Immediate Release
March 18, 2025
Contact
Madia Coleman
coleman@redistrictingfoundation.org

Washington, D.C. – On March 24th at 10 A.M. ET oral argument will take place before the United States Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais, a case that will determine the fate of Louisiana’s current Voting Rights Act (VRA)-compliant congressional map, which includes two Black opportunity districts. Ahead of the arguments, the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) hosted a press call where the organization’s executive director, Marina Jenkins, called on the Supreme Court to reject the plaintiffs’ claims suggesting the enforcement of Section 2 of the VRA is incompatible with the 14th Amendment’s protections, and to reinstate Louisiana’s VRA-compliant congressional map for the remainder of the decade. 

Excerpts from remarks as delivered by Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the NRF:

“This case isn’t just about a congressional map. It’s about representation and living up to the fundamental ideal that should guide our democracy: that every individual has the right to exercise self-determination at the ballot box.”

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“There is no conflict between protecting voters against racial gerrymandering under the 14th Amendment and preventing the dilution of votes from minority communities under the Voting Rights Act. We can do both. Federal law and our constitution supports doing both.”

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“This should be a straightforward decision for the Court. A textbook application of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act requires Louisiana to have a congressional map with two Black opportunity districts. The State of Louisiana chose how to meet that requirement within their own political prerogatives. That should be the end of the story.”

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“The Supreme Court ruled just two years ago to uphold Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, if it now found the VRA in conflict with the U.S. Constitution, it would be a head-spinning reversal of its own precedent.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

The congressional map passed into law by the state of Louisiana in 2022 allowed Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice in just one of six congressional districts, despite the fact that those voters made up a third of the state’s population. In response, the NRF initiated Galmon v. Ardoin, consolidated with Robinson v. Ardoin, a lawsuit that challenged Louisiana’s gerrymandered congressional map for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That litigation was ultimately successful in requiring the state of Louisiana to enact a new map that includes two Black opportunity districts, in compliance with Section 2. 

Immediately after enactment of this new map, a separate lawsuit—the Callais case—was filed, and a lower federal court wrongly struck down Louisiana’s VRA-compliant map. Following that decision, the NRF-supported voters from the Galmon case, alongside the Robinson group, filed an emergency stay request to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Court granted that request. This kept Louisiana’s VRA-compliant map in place for the 2024 election, which allowed Louisianans to elect two Black Members of Congress to represent their state simultaneously for the first time in almost three decades. 

The voters supported by the NRF in the Galmon case, now called the Galmon Amici, submitted an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais, asking the Court to reinstate Louisiana’s VRA-compliant congressional map, which includes two Black opportunity districts. 

To learn more about the NRF’s work, click here. 

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