The Plaintiffs challenge Louisiana’s 2024 congressional redistricting law (SB8), alleging that the state intentionally used race as the primary factor in drawing district boundaries in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The plaintiffs argue that the legislature rushed SB8 through in eight days with the explicit goal of creating two majority-Black congressional districts, Districts 2 and 6, by linking geographically distant Black populations across the state while ignoring traditional redistricting principles such as compactness, communities of interest, and contiguity. According to the complaint, the resulting districts are unusually shaped and connect distant cities in a way that divides local communities and segregates voters based on race. The plaintiffs contend that legislative statements and the structure of the map itself demonstrate that race was the predominant factor in drawing all six districts, amounting to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering and intentional discrimination that dilutes or segregates voters. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief preventing the map from being used.
