NRF Responds to SCOTUS Punting Decision in Louisiana Redistricting Case

For Immediate Release
June 27, 2025
Contact
Madia Coleman
coleman@redistrictingfoundation.org

Washington, D.C. – Today, Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF), issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court punting its decision in Louisiana v. Callais:

“Right now, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and Louisiana's fair map remain intact, and the fight to protect equal representation in the Pelican State will continue. This very Court ruled just two years ago to uphold Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and that precedent makes this case all the more straightforward. To comply with that law, Louisiana must have a congressional map that includes two Black opportunity districts. Any decision coming out of a reargument of this case should not reverse that.”

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 Black 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 (VRA) 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 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 National Redistricting Foundation filed an amicus brief to the Court on behalf of the Galmon Amici in support of Louisiana’s VRA-compliant map. In March 2025, oral argument in Louisiana v. Callais was held before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court has announced that the case will be re-argued at some point during its next term, which starts in October 2025. To learn more about the NRF’s work, click here. 

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