For years, Louisianians have organized, legislated, and litigated for the promise of a fair and representative congressional map. On Oct. 15, LDF returns to the Supreme Court to reargue Louisiana v. Callais and to defend and protect the rights of Black Louisiana voters.
The Louisiana congressional map that was in place during the 2024 election should remain because it satisfies both the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. This map fairly recognizes the political power of Black Louisianians — who make up one-third of the state’s population and endure continued discrimination in the political process — while balancing other redistricting priorities. The 2024 map sits in stark contrast to the discriminatory map passed by the state Legislature in 2022, which federal courts determined likely violated the VRA by including only one majority-Black district.
LDF presented its original oral argument in March 2025. In a supplemental briefing order, where the Supreme Court instructs parties to submit an additional brief on a new or clarified question ahead of a reargument, the court asked LDF to address whether Louisiana’s intentional creation of a second majority-Black district violates either the 14th Amendment or the 15th Amendment.
Louisiana v. Callais is a redistricting case before the Supreme Court that will determine the future of Louisiana’s congressional map. The outcome of the case will not only impact Louisiana but will also forecast the resilience of our democratic values and shape the future of redistricting cases nationwide.
At its core, Louisiana v. Callais is about equal representation for Black voters in Louisiana and the role of race in redistricting. The court will determine if Louisiana lawmakers properly balanced constitutional and VRA protections when enacting a new congressional map with two majority-Black districts in 2024, following years of litigation under Section 2 of the VRA.
The court will be poised to address long-held precedent about how lawmakers must balance constitutional and VRA protections when enacting maps — as well as the extent of their discretion to also consider politics or other legislative preferences when drawing districts.
Opponents of Louisiana’s map do not only aim to overturn it. They now seek to pit critical civil rights protections against one another, claiming that attempting to address racial discrimination under Section 2 is itself discriminatory and violates the 14th and 15th Amendments — the very constitutional provisions adopted in the wake of the Civil War to protect against discrimination in voting. The VRA was later passed to enforce these exact constitutional principles.
This case is not just about Louisiana. It is about whether communities of color across the country can have meaningful representation. The promise of the VRA and our right to a free, fair, and representative democracy hang in the balance.
The order for reargument focused the scope of the case on the question of whether Louisiana violated the 14th and/or 15th Amendments by intentionally creating a second majority-Black congressional district. The reargument raises critical questions about how Section 2 of the VRA applies in Louisiana, specifically, and whether the VRA will continue to permit courts and lawmakers to use the law’s tools to remedy maps that dilute the voting power exercised by Black people and other voters of color nationwide.
Reargument is certainly a unique circumstance and happens only rarely. It is not often that the court issues an order for a case to be reargued, and it can signal that the court is weighing a highly consequential decision.
In fact, one of LDF’s most seminal Supreme Court civil rights victories, Brown v. Board of Education, came following reargument — and we know that deeply consequential decisions often stem from reargued cases. We recognize the gravity of the case and opportunity of this moment. LDF is undeterred in our commitment to using every tool at our disposal to ensure that fair representation is the starting block and not the finish line for all voters.
Fair representation can lead to real change for Black Louisianians. Responsive and accountable leadership in Congress can help improve health care access, disparities in education, environmental safety, infrastructure, and more.
Louisiana v. Callais has the capacity to impact not only Black voters in Louisiana but every voter in this country who risks losing their say in how America’s future unfolds if voter protections are further weakened.
Louisiana v. Callais has always been about equal representation, but now the decision could not only reshape national redistricting law but could forever transform the future of our elections and our democracy. That is why LDF is devoting every resource available to this fight for fair representation.
2025 marks 60 years since the passage of the VRA. This history-making law marked the beginning of a transformation in our pursuit of a multiracial democracy. Section 2, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting policies and district maps, is among the VRA’s most critical provisions to safeguard fair representation.
Louisiana v. Callais is the latest attempt to erode the VRA’s protections by attempting to limit Section 2’s application in the redistricting process and the promise of fair maps. This effort to weaken our ability to challenge and remedy racially discriminatory maps is an affront to the communities who fought for generations to be heard at the ballot box.
The VRA was passed and repeatedly reauthorized by bipartisan majorities in Congress to root out racial discrimination in elections, of which our country has a long and well-documented history. In states such as Louisiana, these legacies continue today and make the political process less open to Black communities.
There should be no question — the law and the facts call for fair maps. The Supreme Court’s critical 2023 decision in Allen v. Milligan upheld decades of precedent under Section 2 and recognized that attacks on the voting rights of Black voters continue today. Argued by LDF, the case led to a second majority-Black district in Alabama and signaled that the same should apply in Louisiana. The precedent is clear, and LDF will continue to fight for the resilience of Section 2 and the promise of a fair political process.
After the Louisiana Legislature passed a discriminatory congressional map in 2022, LDF and co-counsel filed a lawsuit on behalf of individual Black voters, along with Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and the NAACP Louisiana State Conference. Robinson v. Landry (formerly Robinson v. Ardoin) challenged the map as a violation of Section 2 of the VRA, arguing that Louisiana’s map weakened Black Louisianians’ voting power.
After years of litigation during which multiple federal courts found that the map likely violated the VRA, the courts gave the Louisiana Legislature until the end of January 2024 to pass a map that complied with the VRA and included two majority-Black districts where Black voters had an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. In January 2024, the Legislature passed a map that included a second majority-Black district, SB 8, which Governor Jeff Landry quickly signed into law.
Shortly after SB 8 became law, a group of “non-African American voters” filed Callais v. Landry, challenging the newly enacted map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Again represented by LDF and co-counsel, the Robinson litigants quickly intervened in Callais to defend the rights of Black voters to have a fair and representative map in 2024 and beyond.
After a three-day trial, a divided panel of three federal court judges overturned SB 8. The majority sided with the “non-African American voters” and held that legislators improperly prioritized race, and that the new map was not narrowly tailored to comply with the VRA, despite the previous rulings in Robinson v. Landry requiring the Legislature to pass a map with a second majority-Black district. With the case on appeal, LDF will now represent the Robinson Intervenors as they continue their fight for fair maps at the Supreme Court.
For years, Louisianans have organized, legislated, and litigated for the promise of a fair and representative congressional map. The road has been long, but the fight for fair maps continues. Dive into the details and timeline here.
Redistricting can elevate or silence communities of color in our elections. Now more than ever, it is crucial to learn about the redistricting process and how maps impact political power.
Learn how discriminatory redistricting maps in three states, including Louisiana, pave the way for oppressive legislation.
Understanding the role of race in the redistricting process as a means of ensuring equitable representation and political power is critical.
Filed in 2022, the lawsuit argued that by failing to add a second majority-Black district, the maps dilute Black Louisianans voting power, and deny them an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
We’ve compiled answers to frequently asked questions about the seminal U.S. Supreme Court case Allen v. Milligan and its impact on voting rights and redistricting.
LDF has been fighting for fair maps in key states to ensure that maps are drawn fairly and do not disenfranchise Black voters.
