WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on May 4 allowed its recent ruling limiting a key part of the Voting Rights Act to take effect early, boosting the chances that Republicans can impose a new congressional map in Louisiana before the November election.
The court customarily holds on to decisions for a month after they are reached to allow time for the losing side to request another hearing.
Voters who won the case wanted the transfer to happen without the waiting period to grant more time for new maps to be drawn.
Black voters who feared losing representation in Congress opposed that request and argued the justices should instead hold onto their April 29 ruling until after the election because voting in the primary had already begun.
The court's response to the emergency request was unsigned, but in a concurrence, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that Louisiana should not have to use a map found to be unconstitutional. There's still time, he suggested, for the state legislature to adopt a new map.
