Louisiana Congressional Redistricting Challenge (Callais)

Lawsuit filed on behalf of 12 “non-African American” voters challenging the state’s new 2024 congressional map. The Louisiana Legislature enacted a new congressional map in 2024 after the previous map was struck down by a federal court for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and ordered the implementation of a new map with two majority-Black districts. The plaintiffs claim that the recently enacted map is racially gerrymandered and violates the plaintiffs’ right to vote under the 14th and 15th Amendments. The voters ask the court to block future use of the congressional map and adopt a new map that complies with the U.S. Constitution.

The plaintiffs in Robinson v. Ardoin and Galmon v. Ardoin, the two cases which challenged Louisiana’s previous maps intervened to defend the new map in February 2024. On Feb 26, 2024, a three judge panel issued a ruling denying the Galmon plaintiffs’ motion to intervene and granting the Robinson plaintiffs’ motion to intervene on a limited basis only if new maps needed to be drawn after trial. In March 2024, the Robinson and Galmon plaintiffs asked the court to reconsider their motions to intervene. On March 15, 2024, the court issued a new ruling. They agreed to allow the Robinson plaintiffs an opportunity to present arguments during trial on whether race was the “predominant” or most important factor in creating new maps. The court declined to reconsider the Galmon plaintiffs’ motion, ruling that the state of Louisiana and the Robinson plaintiffs were sufficient to represent their interests in the case. On March 20, 2024, the Galmon plaintiffs appealed these rulings to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This case is scheduled for trial on April 8th, 2024.

STATUS: Trial in this case ended on April 10, 2024. The three-judge panel is expected to issue a ruling soon.

Last updated: April 18, 2024 2:02 pm EST