BURSTA federal appeals court panel declined Louisiana’s invitation to gut a key provision of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) that has required the state to draw additional majority-minority districts, ruling Thursday that the argument is foreclosed by binding precedent.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision upholds a judge’s ruling that blocked Louisiana’s state legislative maps by finding they “packed” and “cracked” Black communities in violation of Section 2, the VRA’s central remaining provision.
The state urged the 5th Circuit, regarded as the nation’s most conservative federal appeals court, to use the case to rule Section 2 unconstitutional by finding that conditions in the state no longer justify race-conscious remedies.
The panel wrote that the Pelican State's position would “eschew a clear mandate from the Supreme Court and disregard Congress’s intent," only briefly addressing the argument in the final three of the opinion's 54 pages.
“The State’s challenge to the constitutionality of § 2 is foreclosed by decades of binding precedent affirming Congress’s broad enforcement authority under the Fifteenth Amendment,” the ruling reads.
Left unmentioned was the Supreme Court’s case next term over Louisiana’s congressional map, which raises overlapping questions about the VRA’s future. The high court heard arguments this spring but will rehear the case Oct. 15.
“We strongly disagree with the Fifth Circuit panel’s decision. We are reviewing our options with a focus on stability in our elections and preserving state and judicial resources while the Supreme Court resolves related issues," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) said in a statement.
The 5th Circuit panel on Thursday also rejected Louisiana's separate argument that would broadly weaken the VRA: Private parties have no right to sue under Section 2.
It would take away the ability for cases to be brought to civil rights groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which brought the underlying lawsuit, and leave any challenges to the Justice Department.
Louisiana's case has attracted attention particularly after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals adopted the position at the urging of other Republican-led states.
But the 5th Circuit panel relegated the argument to a footnote, saying it “is foreclosed by Fifth Circuit precedent.”
The panel comprised James Dennis, nominated to the bench by former President Clinton; Catharina Haynes, nominated by former President George W. Bush;, and Irma Carrillo Ramirez, nominated by former President Biden.
Most of the panel's unsigned opinion was dedicated to Louisiana's narrower arguments to overturn the lower ruling blocking its state legislative maps.
Louisiana argued U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick improperly set an expedited trial date, she was required to transfer the case to a three-judge panel and she failed to correctly apply Supreme Court precedent on the VRA.
The panel rejected all those arguments, leaving the Obama-nominated judge's block in place.
Dick ruled in February 2024 that the designs disenfranchised thousands of Black voters in violation of Section 2. She was prepared to order the state to conduct a special election rather than wait for the next cycle in 2027, but the 5th Circuit declined to allow her to do so as they considered the case.