华盛顿-华盛顿(美联社)——最高法院周三命令路易斯安那州举行国会听证会选举尽管下级法院的一项裁决称该地图是非法的种族选区划分，但美国在2024年使用的众议院地图上第二个主要是黑人区。
该命令允许使用该州六个国会选区中两个选区的黑人人口占多数的地图，这可能会增加民主党在2024年选举中控制分裂严重的众议院的机会。
大法官们是根据该州最高共和党民选官员和黑人选民提出的紧急上诉采取行动的。这些人表示，他们需要高等法院的干预，以避免选举临近时出现混乱。路易斯安那州大约三分之一是黑人。
最高法院的命令不涉及下级法院发现地图过于依赖种族的裁决。相反，它只会阻止为今年的选举绘制另一张新地图。
最高法院可能会在晚些时候决定就取消路易斯安那地图的决定听取辩论。
法院的三名自由派法官不同意周三的命令。凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊法官写道，否决最新地图的法官本应有机会在高等法院介入前制作一份新地图。
杰克逊写道:“在距离11月大选这么远的时间里实施新地图，几乎没有造成选民困惑的风险。”
自由派法官不同意最高法院此前的命令，即暂停临近选举的裁决。这些命令提出需要给选民和选举官员足够的时间来确保有序投票。“当选举即将到来时，道路规则必须明确和确定，”正义布雷特·卡瓦诺两年前在阿拉巴马州的一个类似案例中写道。法院从未为多近的距离设定过明确的最后期限。
路易斯安那州总检察长利兹·默里尔表示，她对这一命令感到满意。默里尔在一份电子邮件声明中说:“国务卿一直表示，她需要在5月15日之前得到一份地图。”“原告在审判中没有对此提出异议。我们将继续捍卫法律，并感谢最高法院批准暂缓执行，这将确保我们有一个稳定的选举季。”
一名黑人选民的律师赞扬了法院的行动。“斯考特斯同意我们的观点，认为现在距离选举太近了，不应该增加不确定性，这让我们感到非常欣慰。...全美有色人种协进会法律辩护和教育基金会的律师贾里德·埃文斯在一篇使用最高法院缩写的文字中写道:“今年秋天，我们将有一张黑人占多数的地区的地图。”
挑战新地图的原告律师爱德华·赖姆和保罗·赫德表示，周三的命令允许该州对2024年将在“按种族隔离”的地区投票的选民实施“残酷的种族划分”但他们预测此案最终会获胜。
在过去两年里，路易斯安那州的两张国会地图被联邦法院封锁，引发了一系列诉讼，其中包括最高法院此前的一次干预。
该州共和党主导的立法机构在2022年绘制了新的国会地图，以反映2020年人口普查中反映的人口变化。但这些变化实际上维持了五个倾向于共和党的白人多数选区和一个倾向于民主党的黑人多数选区的现状。
民权倡导者注意到该州黑人人口的规模，在巴吞鲁日的联邦法院对该地图提出质疑，并赢得了美国地区法官谢利·迪克的裁决，即这些地区可能歧视黑人选民。
最高法院搁置了迪克的裁决，同时受理了阿拉巴马州的一起类似案件。法官允许这两个州在2022年的选举中使用这些地图，尽管联邦法官已经裁定这两个州可能存在歧视。
高等法院最终确认了阿拉巴马州的裁决，并将路易斯安那州的案件发回联邦法院，并预计新地图将在2024年选举中投入使用。
美国第五巡回上诉法院给路易斯安那州的立法者规定了2024年初的最后期限，要求他们绘制新地图，否则将面临法院强制绘制地图的可能性。
新任州长杰夫·兰德里是一名共和党人，他在担任司法部长时曾为路易斯安那州的国会地图辩护。然而现在，他敦促立法者在一月份的特别会议上通过另一个黑人占多数的地区的新地图。他支持一张地图，该地图创建了一个新的黑人占多数的地区，横跨全州，连接了什里夫波特、亚历山大、拉斐特和巴吞鲁日地区的部分地区。
另一组原告是一群自称为非裔美国人的人，他们在路易斯安那州西部提起诉讼，声称新地图也是非法的，因为它太受种族驱动，违反了宪法。四月份，一个有分歧的联邦法官小组做出了有利于他们的裁决，并阻止了新地图的使用。
兰德里和他的共和党盟友默里尔认为应该使用新地图，并表示采用新地图是出于政治考虑，而不是种族因素。他们指出，这为共和党同僚众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊和多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯提供了政治安全区。一些议员还指出，共和党众议员加雷特·格雷夫斯(Garret Graves)的选区在新地图中发生了巨大变化，他在去年秋天的州长竞选中支持了兰德里的一位共和党对手。议员们说，格雷夫斯选区的变化支持了政治因素而不是种族因素的论点。
投票模式显示，一个以黑人为主的新选区将使民主党有机会夺取另一个众议院席位，并从路易斯安那州向国会派出第二名黑人代表。民主党州参议员克莱奥·菲尔兹(Cleo Fields)是一名前国会议员，他是黑人，他曾表示，如果新区在下届选举中就位，他将竞选该区的国会议员。
SCOTUS orders Louisiana to use congressional map with additional Black district
WASHINGTON --WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Louisiana to hold congressionalelections in 2024 using a House map with a second mostly Black district, despite a lower-court ruling that called the map an illegal racial gerrymander.
The order allows the use of a map that has majority Black populations in two of the state’s six congressional districts, potentially boosting Democrats’ chances of gaining control of the closely divided House of Representatives in the 2024 elections.
The justices acted on emergency appeals filed by the state's top Republican elected officials and Black voters who said they needed the high court's intervention to avoid confusion as the elections approach. About a third of Louisiana is Black.
The Supreme Court's order does not deal with a lower-court ruling that found the map relied too heavily on race. Instead, it only prevents yet another new map from being drawn for this year's elections.
The Supreme Court could decide at a later date to hear arguments over the decision striking down the Louisiana map.
The court’s three liberal justices dissented from Wednesday’s order. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the judges who struck down the latest map should have had the chance to produce a new map before the high court intervened.
“There is little risk of voter confusion from a new map being imposed this far out from the November election,” Jackson wrote.
Liberal justices have dissented from prior Supreme Court orders that put decisions near elections on hold. Those orders invoked the need to give enough time to voters and election officials to ensure orderly balloting. “When an election is close at hand, the rules of the road must be clear and settled,” JusticeBrett Kavanaughwrote two years ago in a similar case from Alabama. The court has never set a firm deadline for how close is too close.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she was pleased with the order. “The Secretary of State has consistently stated she needed a map by May 15," Murrill said in an emailed statement. "The plaintiffs did not contest it at trial. We will continue to defend the law and are grateful the Supreme Court granted the stay which will ensure we have a stable election season.”
A lawyer for the Black voters praised the court's action. “We are very relieved that SCOTUS agreed with us that it’s too close to the election to insert uncertainty. ... We will have a map with 2 majority black districts this fall,” Jared Evans, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, wrote in a text using an abbreviation for the Supreme Court.
Edward Greim and Paul Hurd, attorneys for plaintiffs who challenged the new map said Wednesday's order lets the state impose a “brutal racial gerrymander" on 2024 voters who will cast ballots in districts “segregated by race.” But they predicted eventual victory in the case.
Louisiana has had two congressional maps blocked by federal courts in the past two years in a swirl of lawsuits that included a previous intervention by the Supreme Court.
The state’s Republican-dominated legislature drew a new congressional map in 2022 to account for population shifts reflected in the 2020 Census. But the changes effectively maintained the status quo of five Republican-leaning majority white districts and one Democratic-leaning majority Black district.
Noting the size of the state’s Black population, civil rights advocates challenged the map in a Baton Rouge-based federal court and won a ruling from U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick that the districts likely discriminated against Black voters.
The Supreme Court put Dick’s ruling on hold while it took up a similar case from Alabama. The justices allowed both states to use the maps in the 2022 elections even though both had been ruled likely discriminatory by federal judges.
The high court eventually affirmed the ruling from Alabama and returned the Louisiana case to federal court, with the expectation that new maps would be in place for the 2024 elections.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave lawmakers in Louisiana a deadline of early 2024 to draw a new map or face the possibility of a court-imposed map.
New Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, had defended Louisiana’s congressional map as attorney general. Now, though, he urged lawmakers to pass a new map with another majority Black district at a January special session. He backed a map that created a new majority Black district stretching across the state, linking parts of the Shreveport, Alexandria, Lafayette and Baton Rouge areas.
A different set of plaintiffs, a group of self-described non-African Americans, filed suit in western Louisiana, claiming that the new map was also illegal because it was driven too much by race, in violation of the Constitution. A divided panel of federal judges ruled 2-1 in April in their favor and blocked use of the new map.
Landry and Murrill, a Republican ally, argued that the new map should be used, saying it was adopted with political considerations — not race — as a driving factor. They note that it provides politically safe districts for House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, fellow Republicans. Some lawmakers have also noted that the one Republican whose district is greatly altered in the new map, Rep. Garret Graves, supported a GOP opponent of Landry in last fall’s governor’s race. The change to Graves’ district bolsters the argument that politics was the driving factor rather than race, lawmakers have said.
Voting patterns show a new mostly Black district would give Democrats the chance to capture another House seat and send a second Black representative to Congress from Louisiana. Democratic state Sen. Cleo Fields, a former congressman who is Black, had said he will run for Congress in the new district, if it’s in place for the next election.
