5th Circuit grants motion against Black voters to rehear case over La. supreme court seat

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear a decades-old voting rights case that established the only majority-Black state supreme court district in Louisiana, according to the court’s docket Monday afternoon. 

In a rare move Monday, the 5th Circuit granted a petition from the State of Louisiana for a rehearing en banc in Chisom v. State of Louisiana, a gerrymandering lawsuit that stems from the 1980s. During the 2021-2022 judicial year, the 5th Circuit granted only 2% of requests for en banc rehearings, according to the clerk’s annual report.

In the original lawsuit, Black voters argued the Louisiana Legislature gerrymandered the Louisiana Supreme Court districts by packing Black neighborhoods into majority-white districts. 

After protracted litigation that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the state eventually agreed to a consent judgment in 1992 that settled the case by creating Louisiana’s only state supreme court district where Black voters have a chance of electing a candidate of their choice. Associate Justice Piper Griffin currently holds the seat, which is based out of New Orleans. 

However, the state, through then-Attorney General Jeff Landry, moved to dissolve the consent judgment in 2021 ahead of the legislature’s special session on redistricting the following year. 

Landry, a Republican who now serves as Louisiana’s governor, argued that the state no longer needs a federal court to force it to comply with the Voting Rights Act. He further argued that the consent judgment was only meant to be temporary and is being incorrectly used as a “perpetual federal check on the State.”

A district court initially declined the state’s request, but the state appealed to the 5th Circuit, where a three-judge panel also initially rejected the state’s arguments. On Monday, however, all 17 of the active judges at the 5th Circuit vacated that panel’s opinion and ordered a rehearing of the case. This time, the hearing will take place before all of the judges and is tentatively scheduled for the week of May 13.

The development comes on the heels of Landry’s recent decision to call a redistricting session earlier this month and press his Republican colleagues in the legislature to draw a second majority-Black congressional district, which they did. A similar piece of legislation drawing a second majority-Black supreme court district failed in the state senate despite having support from a majority of the justices. 

Attorneys involved in the lawsuit weren’t immediately willing to comment Monday afternoon as they were still reviewing the court’s order. 

Editor’s note: The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has a total of 26 judges, of whom 17 are active and 9 have moved to senior/inactive status.