Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and a coalition of 20 attorneys general have urged the Supreme Court to uphold Louisiana’s Voting Rights Act-compliant congressional map, defending states’ authority to address voting inequalities through redistricting.
Per the news release: “Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today urged the US Supreme Court to reaffirm that states should have the first opportunity to redraw legislative maps in response to likely violations of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). In an amicus brief filed in Louisiana v. Callais, a coalition of 20 attorneys general, including Attorney General Brown, supports the State of Louisiana and a group of Louisiana voters in upholding a congressional map with two majority-Black districts.
In 2022, a federal court in the Middle District of Louisiana found the state’s congressional map likely diluted Black residents’ votes in violation of Section 2 of the VRA. To comply, Louisiana’s legislature enacted a new map in 2024 that added a second majority-Black district. However, a group of “non–African American voters” sued the state in the Western District of Louisiana, claiming the new map constituted unconstitutional racial gerrymandering, which favors certain racial or ethnic groups in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.
Supreme Court precedent allows states to consider racial communities in redistricting if there is a “good reason” to comply with the VRA. Despite this, a three-judge court in the Western District of Louisiana barred the state from using its 2024 map, leaving Louisiana caught between conflicting court orders and unable to resolve voting inequalities while complying with federal law. The Supreme Court has agreed to determine the correctness of the Western District’s ruling.
“The Voting Rights Act was the product of a struggle endured by those who had been denied the right to vote, so that we could build a better future and form a more perfect union,” said Attorney General Brown. “Our Office will resist efforts to dismantle the law and weaken any state’s ability to address inequality in exercising the right to vote. The right to cast a ballot is the cornerstone of our democracy, and it should be protected.”
The coalition of attorneys general argues that the Constitution allows elected state legislatures the authority to address voting inequalities by enacting districting plans tailored to those issues. The brief asserts that Louisiana’s addition of a second majority-Black district to comply with the VRA was reasonable and not unconstitutional. The coalition also opposes an amicus brief filed by Alabama and 12 other states seeking to overturn established precedent interpreting Section 2 of the VRA, warning that such a move would disrupt decades of reliance on settled interpretations.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.”