Louisiana will hold congressional elections this fall using a recently passed map with two majority-Black districts. The U.S. Supreme Court paused a lower court’s ruling disqualifying the map.
A years-long legal battle over Louisiana’s congressional map seemed likely over when lawmakers drew a new map in January with a second majority-Black district. Then, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals threw that map out, saying it was racially gerrymandered. And the court ordered lawmakers to once again draw a new map.
![A panel of federal judges had tossed out Louisiana’s new congressional map, striking the state’s second majority-Black district [District 6] just months after it was signed into law.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/eb9cefe/2147483647/strip/true/crop/800x732+0+0/resize/840x768!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fea%2Fdc%2F5d62f3944a8d88045e8dce515022%2Flouisiana-congressional-districts-119th-congress-svg.png)
But the United States Supreme Court put the lower court’s decision on hold and ordered Louisiana to use the map lawmakers passed earlier this year. That could increase Democrats’ likelihood of securing a second congressional district in Louisiana and potentially bolster the party’s chance to gain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
