NRF Responds to SCOTUS Order to Keep Louisiana’s VRA-Compliant Map in Place
For Immediate Release
May 15, 2024
Contact
Madia Coleman
coleman@redistrictingfoundation.org
Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Louisiana’s Voting Rights Act (VRA)-compliant map to remain in place while a lower court’s decision, Callais v. Landry wrongly striking down the map, is appealed. As a result, Black Louisianians, who make up about one-third of the state’s population, will have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice in two of the state’s six congressional districts in the 2024 election.
“This is a clear victory for Black Louisianians, who have fought for years for the equal representation they deserve as citizens,” said Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF). “This year, they will have the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice in two of the state’s six congressional districts as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act requires. What unfolded in Louisiana underscores that anti-democratic forces will continue to do all they can to gerrymander, and we must remain vigilant, but today they have again been stopped. Tomorrow, the fight to protect the Voting Rights Act will continue.”
The National Redistricting Foundation (NRF), the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, is continuing to provide financial support and direct the litigation strategy for a set of VRA litigants in this case and submitted an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in support of the Galmon Intervenors in Callais v. Landry, asking the Court to keep Louisiana’s Voting Rights Act-compliant map in place while an appeal is underway to reverse a lower court’s decision to block Louisiana’s new, fair, congressional map. In 2022, the NRF initiated Galmon v. Ardoin, which was then consolidated with Robinson v. Ardoin, the successful lawsuit that struck down Louisiana’s 2022 congressional map for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and led to the enactment of Louisiana’s current Voting Rights Act-compliant map in January 2024, which includes two Black opportunity districts.
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