Supreme Court Grants Stay to Louisiana and Schedules Major Redistricting Case for October

The Supreme Court of the United States on June 28 issued a stay of a lower court decision on new congressional districts in Louisiana. The Court’s order in the case Robinson v. Ardoin means that the 2022 House races will be conducted in the six districts, one of which historically has elected a minority representative, as drawn by the Louisiana legislature. The Court also took the extraordinary step of granting certiorari before judgment in the Robinson case and accepted it onto its docket until a similar case from Alabama, Merrill v. Milligan, is decided. Oral Arguments in the Alabama case are scheduled for October 4, 2022.

The Louisiana and Alabama cases raise the issue of whether section 2 of the Voting Rights Act requires legislatures to create multiple majority minority voting districts based on race and proportional representation.

Holtzman Vogel partners Jason Torchinsky, Phillip Gordon and Ed Wenger represent the state of Louisiana in the Robinson litigation and served as co-counsel in the successful application to the Supreme Court for a stay.

This update is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. Entities should confer with competent legal counsel concerning the specifics of their situation before taking any action.