Map of the Louisiana Congress blocked to dilute the black voting power

The judges of the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals have rejected Louisiana’s request to enable it to enforce its long -term rediscovery card, bringing a short term to the state republicans by judging that this is equivalent to an unconstitutional racial gerrymand.

The three judges on the bench voted to confirm the decision of a lower court according to which the card in question – initially adopted by the republican legislature of Louisiana in 2022 – violates in article 2 of the law on voting rights of 1965 by diluting the votes of black residents of the State.

They also affirmed the decision of the district court according to which the card in question violates article 2 of the law on voting rights by “” packing “black voters in a small number of mainly black districts, and” falling out “other black communities in several districts, thus depriving them of the opportunity to form effective voting blocks.

The Committee’s judges also rejected the statement of the state that the conditions in Louisiana have changed sufficiently to make the remedies concerned with the obsolete race.

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The voters of Black Louisiana and the defenders of civil rights before the Supreme Court in March 2025 before the oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, centered on the map of the State Congress. (Jemal Coutesse / Getty Images for Legal Defense Fund)

“There is no legal basis for this proposal, and the State does not provide any evidence that the conditions in Louisiana have changed” enough to deny this need, said the court in its decision.

A panel judge published a suspension before the court decision, although the question is in a way a questionable point, because the Supreme Court, which also examines the card, had already done it earlier this year.

The decision of the fifth circuit, which has the reputation of one of the most conservative appeal courses, is a short -term victory for ACLU and other complainants who continued to prevent the state card.

However, any repair for the complainants of the court of appeal should be short -lived.

The Supreme Court in March heard the oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, who also focuses on the legality of the Louisiana redistribution card and if the race should be considered a factor in drawing new districts of the congress.

The oral arguments then strongly focused on the question of whether Louisiana’s redistribution efforts have been adapted enough to meet the constitutional requirements and if the breed has been used in a way that violated the law, as the respondents claims.

The Supreme Court said in June that it would hear additional arguments in the case in the fall, invoking the need for more information before being able to make a decision.

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The judges of the Supreme Court attend the 60th inaugural ceremony on January 20, 2025 at the American Capitol in Washington, DC (Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Earlier this month, the judges ordered the two parties to deposit additional memories in mid-September, describing in more detail the arguments for and against the proposed map of Louisiana and if the intentional creation of a second district of the mainly black congress “violates the fourteenth or fifteenth amendments to the American Constitution”.

The attentive consideration of the Supreme Court is the clearest sign to date that redistribution problems remain at the top of the mid-term elections of 2026 and beyond.

He also arrives at a pivotal time in the United States, because new and politically loaded redistribution fights appeared in other states before the mid-term elections next year.

Louisiana, for its part, revised its Congress card twice since the 2020 census.

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An envelope containing a 2020 census letter is seen in this photo of May 21, 2020. (AP photo / Paul Sancya, file)

The first version, which included only one mainly black district, was blocked by a federal court in 2022. The court arose on the side of the State Conference of Louisiana of the NAACP and other complainants, leading the card diluted the power of black voting and ordering the State to restart it in January 2024.

The new card, SB 8, created the second district of Black-Majority. But it was almost immediately disputed by a group of non-black complainants in court, which challenged a new district which extended to around 250 miles from the northwest corner of Louisiana from Shreveport to Baton Rouge, in the south-east of the state.

They argued in their trials that the State had violated the equal protection clause by relying too much on the breed to draw the cards and created a “second district of mainly winding black”.

Intense legal fighting in Louisiana highlights the wider redistribution battles that take place in states led by the Republicans and Democrats across the country, because they were expressed on new Congress cards with an eye on the imminent mid-term elections.

In Texas, tensions have reached a fever field after the legislators of the Democratic States fled the only state of the State to block the capacity of the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott to convene a legislative quorum to adopt the new aggressive state redress card, which would create five additional republican districts.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom replied by presenting a new card which is specific to him which promotes democrats.

This decision underlines how the two parties are engaged in aggressive redistribution battles, the states led by the Republicans pushing cards to defend the thin majority of the GOP and the Democrats seeking to extend their own advantages. As for most mid -term following a new election by the president, 2026 should serve as a referendum in the White House – which has submitted the concerns of the GOP that they could lose control of the room.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference on Thursday, August 14, 2025 in Los Angeles. (AP photo / Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Gov. New York Kathy HochulFor its part, promised a press conference earlier this month to explore “each option” to redraw state lines.

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“We are at war,” said Hochul, speaking alongside the Texas Democrats who fled in his state.