“South Carolina officials requested to lift a federal court order that prohibits the State from using a racially gerrymandered congressional map for the November 2024 elections in Congressional District 1. If these officials had their way, they would conduct elections in South Carolina for the second election cycle under an unconstitutional congressional map. The Legal Defense Fund and its partners adamantly denounce this feeble attempt at proceeding under the unconstitutional status quo when time remains to hear from the Supreme Court about whether it agrees that the map is unconstitutional and then for the State to fix it.
“Rather than using the same unconstitutional congressional map that was used in the 2022 midterm elections, state officials should be working to fix an unconstitutional map of their own making and remedy the harm to voters. The Legal Defense Fund and its partners eagerly await an opinion from the Supreme Court and remain hopeful that the Court will affirm a three-judge panel’s unanimous post-trial decision that the map at issue is unconstitutional based on the strength of the case record and settled law. That affirmation is the key next step to obtaining a final fix to the unconstitutional racial gerrymandering for congressional elections in South Carolina.
“While this effort to deny voters of their right to a congressional election free from racial discrimination underpins nationwide efforts that we have fought against too, the Legal Defense Fund and its partners continue to fight attempts like these to forestall change with the determination necessary to realize the full protections of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
Read our filing in opposition to the defendant’s motion for a stay here.
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
