LA REDISTRICTING CASE — The Supreme Court lifted its hold on a Louisiana case that could force the state to redraw congressional districts to boost Black voting power. Monday's order follows the court’s rejection earlier in June of a congressional redistricting map in Alabama and unfreezes the Louisiana case, which had been on hold pending the Alabama decision. In both states, Black voters are a majority in just one congressional district.
Lower courts had ruled the maps raised concerns that Black voting power had been diluted. The justices put the Louisiana case on hold and allowed the state’s challenged map to be used in last year’s elections after agreeing to hear the Alabama case. According to the U.S. Census, About a third of Louisiana's residents are Black and more than one in four Alabamians are Black.