Amicus Curiae Brief — Louisiana, Appellant v. Phillip Callais, et al.

Supreme Court briefSep 3, 2025

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Text

Nos. 24-109, 24-110

IN THE

Supreme Court of the United States

————

STATE OF LOUISIANA,

Appellant,

PHILLIP CALLAIS, et al.,

Appellees.

————

PRESS ROBINSON, et al.,

Appellants,

PHILLIP CALLAIS, et al.,

Appellees.

————

On Appeal from the United States District

Court for the Western District of Louisiana

————

BRIEF FOR LOUISIANA HISTORIANS

AS AMICI CURIAE SUPPORTING

ROBINSON APPELLANTS

————

September 3, 2025

HILARY HARRIS KLEIN

Counsel of Record

CHRISTOPHER SHENTON

JEFFREY LOPERFIDO

ADRIANNE SPOTO

LILY TALERMAN

HELENA ABBOTT

RACHEL ALLORE

MITCHELL BROWN

SOUTHERN COALITION FOR

SOCIAL JUSTICE

P.O. Box 51280

Durham, NC 27717

(610) 574 5244

hilaryhklein@scsj.org

Counsel for Amici Curiae

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ................................

INTERESTS OF AMICI CURIAE ......................

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF

ARGUMENT ....................................................

ARGUMENT ........................................................

I. The Totality of the Circumstances Supports

Louisiana’s Compelling State Interest in

Complying With the Voting Rights Act ...

A. Louisiana Has Seen Significant

Growth, Not Decline, in its Black

Population ............................................

B. Louisiana’s Black Population Has Not

Dispersed .............................................

C. Louisiana’s

Black

Population

Remains Heavily Shaped by Racial

Discrimination .....................................

1. School segregation..........................

2. Housing segregation ......................

3. Other socioeconomic measures ......

4. Hurricane Katrina .........................

5. State-enacted intentional discrimination.............................................

CONCLUSION ....................................................

(i)

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

CASES

Page(s)

Alex A. v. Edwards,

No. 22-CV-573 (M.D. La) ..........................

Allen v. Milligan,

599 U.S. 1 (2023) .................................. 1-4, 6, 11

Bartlett v. Strickland,

556 U.S. 1 (2009) .......................................

Batson v. Kentucky,

476 U.S. 79 (1986) .....................................

Brown v. Lawrence,

No. 23-1313 (M.D. La. Feb. 19, 2025) ......

Callais v. Landry,

732 F. Supp. 3d 574 (W.D. La. 2024) ..... 7, 8, 11

Chisom v. Roemer,

501 U.S. 380 (1991) ...................................

Georgia v. Ashcroft,

539 U.S. 461 (2003) ...................................

Greater New Orleans Fair Hous. Action

Ctr. v. St. Bernard Parish,

641 F. Supp. 2d 563 (E.D. La. 2009) ........

Growe v. Emison,

507 U.S. 25 (1993) .....................................

Hall v. St. Helena Parish Sch. Bd.,

417 F.2d 801 (5th Cir. 1969) .....................

Hays v. Louisiana,

936 F. Supp. 360 (W.D. La. 1996) ............ 8, 11

In re Landry,

83 F.4th 300 (5th Cir. 2023) .....................

iii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Johnson v. De Grandy,

512 U.S. 997 (1994) ................................... 2, 3, 5

Lewis v. Cain,

No. 15-CV-318 (M.D. La.) .........................

Louisiana v. Broussard,

318 So. 3d 683 (La. 2018) .........................

Mississippi Republican Exec. Comm. v.

Brooks, 469 U.S. 1002 (1984) ...................

Moore v. Tangipahoa Parish Sch. Bd.,

No. 65-CV-15556 (E.D. La.) ......................

Nairne v. Ardoin,

715 F. Supp. 3d 808 (M.D. La. 2024) .......

7, 8

Nairne v. Landry,

No. 24-30115, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS

20758 (5th Cir. Aug. 14, 2025) .................

Ramos v. Louisiana,

590 U.S. 83 (2020) ..................................... 29, 30

Robinson v. Ardoin,

37 F.4th 208 (5th Cir. 2022) .....................

Robinson v. Ardoin,

86 F.4th 574 (5th Cir. 2023) ..................... 4, 6, 7

Robinson v. Ardoin,

605 F. Supp. 3d 759 (M.D. La. 2022) ...... 4-9, 15

Shelby County v. Holder,

570 U.S. 529 (2013) ...................................

Smith v. Concordia Parish Sch. Bd.,

No. 1:65-cv-11577 (W.D. La.) .................... 15, 16

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Snyder v. Louisiana,

552 U.S. 472 (2008) ...................................

Thomas v. Sch. Bd. of St. Martin Parish,

No. 65-CV-11314 (W.D. La.) .....................

Thornburg v. Gingles,

478 U.S. 30 (1986) ........................... 2, 3, 5, 7, 11

United States v. Desoto Parish Sch. Bd.,

No. 67-CV-12589 (W.D. La.) .....................

Voice of the Experienced v. LeBlanc,

No. 23-CV-01304, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS

163943 (M.D. La. Aug. 22, 2025) ..............

Voinovich v. Quilter,

507 U.S. 146 (1993) ...................................

2, 3

CONSTITUTION

U.S. Const. amend. IV ..................................

U.S. Const. amend. VI ..................................

U.S. Const. amend. VIII ...............................

STATUTES

Voting Rights Act, § 2, 52 U.S.C.

§ 10301 ................................... 1-3, 5-8, 28, 33-34

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

COURT FILINGS

Page(s)

Draft Consent Order, Smith v. Concordia

Parish Sch. Bd., No. 65-CV-11577 (W.D.

La. 2024), https://core-docs.s3.us-east1.amazonaws.

com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/3196/

FHS/5100460/Proposed_Consent_Order.

pdf (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .................

Order, Smith vs. Concordia Parish Sch.

Bd., No 1:65-cv-11577, ECF No. 82 (W.D.

La. Jan. 20, 2015) .....................................

OTHER AUTHORITIES

Adam Harris, The New Secession, THE

ATLANTIC (May 20, 2019), https://www.

theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/0

5/resegregation-baton-rouge-public-scho

ols/589381/.................................................

Adam Nossiter, Whites Take a Majority on

New Orleans’s Council, N.Y. TIMES (Nov.

20, 2007), https://www.nytimes.com/20

07/11/20/us/nationalspecial/20orleans.ht

ml ...............................................................

An Introduction to Spatial Data Science,

GEODA,

https://geodacenter.github.io/

(last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .......................

Ben Casselman, Katrina Washed Away

New Orleans’s Black Middle Class,

FIVETHIRTYEIGHT (Aug. 24, 2015),

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/katrin

a-washed-away-new-orleanss-black-midd

le-class ....................................................... 24, 26

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

CARL BANKSTON & STEPHEN CALDAS, A

TROUBLED DREAM: THE PROMISE AND

FAILURE OF SCHOOL DESEGREGATION IN

LOUISIANA (2022) ......................................

Carlie Kollath Wells, Russell Contreras &

Kavya Beheraj,

Louisiana’s

Most

Segregated School Systems, Mapped,

AXIOS NEW ORLEANS (May 17, 2024),

https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/

2024/05/17/louisianas-most-segregated-sc

hool-systems-mapped ..................................

Change in Segregation, 1990-2019, BERKELEY

OTHERING & BELONGING INST., https://bel

onging.berkeley.edu/change-segregation1990-2019 (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .....

Christopher Cooper, Old-Line Families

Escape Worst of Flood and Plot the

Future, WALL ST. J. (Sept. 8, 2005),

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1126144

85840634882?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=ASW

zDAguwrwAbls81ohum-O90zmig-FBUE

h9kalFRvh3H5n2YY4y0Dts8J9MHqhH

RqM%3D&gaa_ts=68af1239&gaa_sig=R

zz2M2wTiIhnuP-YvpP9cifuC9IHSmI-f_

wi3c_Nq-6HC39eNUGvNm84tsvGjQB6

hzIprF-Kb219nALEDhwiuw%3D%3D .....

vii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Collin Binkley & Sharon Lurye, Trump

Officials Are Vowing to End School

Desegregation Orders. Some Parents Say

They’re Still Needed, L.A. TIMES (June 7,

2025), https://www.latimes.com/world-na

tion/story/2025-06-07/trump-officials-arevowing-to-end-school-desegregation-orde

rs-some-parents-say-theyre-still-needed .

Concordia Parish Public Schools, U.S.

NEWS & WORLD REPORT, https://www.

usnews.com/education/k12/louisiana/dist

ricts/concordia-parish-108738 (last visited

Aug. 29, 2025) ...........................................

Concordia

Parish

School

District,

PROPUBLICA (last updated Oct. 2018),

https://projects.propublica.org/miseducat

ion/district/2200480 (last visited Aug. 29,

2025) ..........................................................

David Hammer, Behind the Key Decision

That Left Many Poor Homeowners

Without Enough Money to Rebuild After

Katrina, PROPUBLICA (Dec. 13, 2022),

https://www.propublica.org/article/whylouisiana-road-home-program-based-gra

nts-on-home-values ...................................

viii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

David C. Radley et al., Advancing Racial

Equality in U.S. Health Care: The

Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health

Disparities Report, THE COMMONWEALTH

FUND (Apr. 18, 2024), https://www.comm

onwealthfund.org/publications/fund-repo

rts/2024/apr/advancing-racial-equity-ushealth-care ................................................

Elizabeth Fussell et al., Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Return Migration to

New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, 31

POPULATION AND ENV’T 20 (2010) .............

Elizabeth M. Grieco & Rachel C. Cassidy,

Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin

(Mar. 2001), https://www2.census.gov/

library/publications/decennial/2000/brief

s/c2kbr01-01.pdf .......................................

Environmental racism in Louisiana’s

‘Cancer Alley’, must end, say UN human

rights experts, UN NEWS (Mar. 2, 2021),

https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/108

6172 ...........................................................

Equality, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT,

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-state

s/rankings/opportunity/equality

(last

visited Aug. 28, 2025) ...............................

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

FED. RSRV. BANK OF ST. LOUIS, White to

Non-White Racial Dissimilarity (5-year

estimate) Index for Caddo Parish, LA,

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RACED

ISPARITY022017 (last visited Aug. 28,

2025) ..........................................................

FED. RSRV. BANK OF ST. LOUIS, White to

Non-White Racial Dissimilarity (5-year

estimate) Index for Orleans Parish, LA,

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RACED

ISPARITY022071 (last visited Aug. 28,

2025) ..........................................................

Forecasting State and National Trends in

Household Formation and Homeownership: Louisiana, URBAN INSTITUTE,

https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/ho

using-finance-policy-center/projects/forec

asting-state-and-national-trends-househ

old-formation-and-homeownership/louisi

ana?utm (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .......

GOP Eyes Big Easy Gains After Incumbent

Lapses, WASH. TIMES (Oct. 26, 2005),

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/

2005/oct/26/20051026-111834-1596r/ .......

Greg LaRose, Proposal would let breakaway school districts avoid statewide

votes, LOUISIANA ILLUMINATOR (Apr. 4,

2024), https://lailluminator.com/2024/04/04/

school-districts/ ................................................

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Greg Margolis & Alex Moody, Smith v.

Concordia Parish School Board, C.R.

LITIG.

CLEARINGHOUSE,

https://clearinghouse.net/

case/13739/

(last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .......................

How Cluster and Outlier Analysis (Anselin

Local Moran’s I) Works, ESRI, https://

pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-ref

erence/spatial-statistics/h-how-cluster-a

nd-outlier-analysis-anselin-local-m.htm

(last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .......................

HUD and Louisiana Announce Settlement

Agreement to End Legal Challenge to Road

Home Program, U.S. DEP’T OF HOUS. &

URB. DEV. (July 6, 2011), https://

archives.hud.gov/news/2011/pr11-138.cf

m ................................................................ 31, 32

Income Gap by Race, U.S. NEWS & WORLD

REPORT, https://www.usnews.com/news/

best-states/rankings/opportunity/equalit

y/income-gap-race (last visited Aug. 28,

2025) ..........................................................

Jeff Adelson et al., The Road Home

program shortchanged low-income homeowners in Louisiana. New data proves it,

NOLA.COM (Dec. 11, 2022), https://www.

nola.com/news/kat rina/how-louisianasroad-home-program-shortchanged-thepoor/article_b61193f0-773e-11ed-b339-1fb6

f4dbaa42.amp.html ..........................................

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Joanne Ryan & Stephanie L. Perrault,

Angola: Plantation to Penitentiary, U.S.

ARMY CORPS OF ENG’RS, NEW ORLEANS

DIST. (2007), https://www.crt.state.la.us/

Assets/OCD/archaeology/discoverarchae

ology/virtual-books/PDFs/Angola_Pop.pd

f (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .....................

JOSHUA D. ROTHMAN, THE LEDGER AND THE

CHAIN: HOW DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADERS

SHAPED AMERICA (2021) ............................

Junia Howell & James R. Elliott, Damages

Done: The Longitudinal Impacts of

Natural Hazards on Wealth Inequality in

the United States, 66 SOC. PROBS. 448

(2019) .........................................................

Kristen Lewis, A Portrait of Louisiana

2020: Human Development in an Age of

Uncertainty (2020), https://ssrc-static.s3.

amazonaws.com/moa/A_Portrait_of_Loui

siana_2020.pdf (last visited Aug. 29,

2025) ..........................................................

LA. FAIR HOUS. ACTION CTR., Denials,

Discounts, and Discrimination: An

Investigation into Racial Discrimination

in Rental Practices in the Gulf South

(2021), https://lafairhousing.org/wp-conte

nt/uploads/2021/07/LaFHAC-Denials-Dis

counts-and-Discrimination-in-the-GulfSouth.pdf (last visited Aug. 29, 2025) ......

xii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

LA. SEC’Y OF STATE, Post Election Statistics –

Parish, https://www.sos.la.gov/Elections

AndVoting/Pages/PostElectionStatistics

Parish.aspx (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) ..

Letter from U.S. Env’t Prot. Agency, Off. of

Env’t Just. & External C.R., to La. Dep’t

of Env’t Quality & La. Dep’t of Health

(Oct. 12, 2022), https://www.epa.gov/syst

em/files/documents/2022-10/2022%2010

%2012%20Final%20Letter%20LDEQ%2

0LDH%2001R-22-R6%2C%2002R-22-R6%

2C%2004R-22-R6.pdf .................................

Life in Prison Without Parole in Louisiana,

SENT’G PROJECT (Jan. 23, 2024), https://

www.sentencingproject.org/fact-sheet/lif

e-in-prison-without-parole-in-louisiana ...

Livia Albeck-Ripka, F.B.I. Investigating

Charges of Abuse by Baton Rouge Police

in ‘Brave Cave’, N.Y. TIMES (Sept. 24,

2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/

24/us/louisiana-police-brave-cave-abuse.

html ...........................................................

Louisana, PRISON POL’Y INITIATIVE, https://

www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/LA.html

(last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .......................

Luc Anselin, Contiguity-Based Spatial

Weights, https://geodacenter.github.io/wo

rkbook/4a_contig_weights/lab4a.html

(last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .......................

xiii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Michael A. Fletcher & Spencer S. Hsu,

Storms Alter Louisiana Politics, WASH.

POST (Oct. 13, 2005), https://www.was

hingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/10

/14/storms-alter-louisiana-politics/a1a5

8f69-d4b0-4277-b28e-72595579d346/.......

MIGRATION PATTERNS, https://migration

patterns.org/ (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .

Most to Least Segregated Metro Regions in

2020, BERKELEY OTHERING & BELONGING

INST., https://belonging.berkeley.edu/mo

st-least-segregated-metro-regions-2020

(last visited Aug. 28, 2025) ..........................

Nathan Babb, “Baby Won’t You Please

Come Home:” Studying Ethnoracial

Segregation Trends in New Orleans Pre

and Post Hurricane Katrina, PRINCETON

U.: J. PUB. & INT’L AFFS. (May 5, 2021),

https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/baby-wontyou-please-come-home-studying-ethnora

cial-segregation-trends-new-orleans-preand-post .....................................................

Net Migration, U.S. NEWS & WORLD

REPORT, https://www.usnews.com/news/

best-states/rankings/economy/growth/netmigration (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) ........

Paul Rioux, Group to Comb Sheriff’s Files

for Signs of Hiring Bias, NEW ORLEANS

TIMES-PICAYUNE, Aug. 3, 2006 .................

xiv

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Paul Rioux, Sheriff Jack Strain is Sticking

to His Guns, NEW ORLEANS TIMESPICAYUNE, July 16, 2006 ...........................

Racial Dissimilarity Index | Louisiana,

FED. RSRV. ECON. DATA, FED. RSRV. BANK

OF ST. LOUIS, https://fred.stlouisfed.

org/release/tables?rid=419&eid=353324

(last visited Aug. 28, 2025) .......................

Residential Segregation (Black/White) by

State, NAT’L INST. ON MINORITY HEALTH

AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, https://hdp

ulse.nimhd.nih.gov/data-portal/physical/

table?age=001&age_options=ageall_1&d

emo=01005&demo_options=air_pollutio

n_1&physicaltopic=100&physicaltopic_o

ptions=physical_2&race=00&race_optio

ns=raceall_1&sex=0&sex_options=sexbo

th_1&statefips=00&statefips_options=ar

ea_states&state (last visited Aug. 28,

2025) ..........................................................

Residential Segregation, DIVERSITY AND

DISPARITIES, https://s4.ad.brown.edu/pro

jects/diversity/segregation2010/Default.a

spx (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) ................

Robin McDowell & Margie Mason,

Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden

workforce linked to hundreds of popular

food brands, AP NEWS (Jan. 29, 2024),

https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plat

e-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747

963283316e494eadf08c4e ......................... 30, 31

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Sabrina Simms Robertson, Concordia

School board, AG rep strategize on

desegregation

lawsuit,

NATCHEZ

DEMOCRAT (July 7, 2025), https://www.na

tchezdemocrat.com/2025/07/07/concordia

-school-board-meets-with-ag-representat

ive-to-plan-strategy-for-60-year-old-dese

gregation-case/ ..........................................

Sabrina Simms Robertson, School board

votes down DOJ consent order to

restructure schools, forms cooperative

endeavor with AG’s office to fight it in

court, NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT (Dec. 17,

2024), https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/

2024/12/17/school-board-votes -down-dojconsent-order-to-restructure-schools-for

ms-cooperative-endeavor-with-ags-officeto-fight-it-in-court/ ....................................

Sabrina Simms Robertson, State AG,

parish school board to review desegregation lawsuit, NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT (Dec. 9,

2024), https://www.natchezdemocrat.co

m/2024/12/09/state-ag-parish-school-boa

rd-to-review-desegregation-lawsuit/ .........

Shapefiles & Block Equivalency Files Based

Upon 2020 Census Geography, https://red

ist.legis.la.gov/default_ShapeFiles2020

(last visited Aug. 29, 2025) .......................

xvi

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

Student Racial Demographics: Louisiana

Elementary and Secondary Public and

Private Schools, LA. LEGIS. AUDITOR (Jan.

25, 2023), https://app.lla.state.la.us/pub

licreports.nsf/0/a4fa835e5738df4286258

9420071c04c/$file/00000951.pdf?openele

ment&.7773098 .........................................

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, 2010 Redistricting

Tables, Louisiana Custom Tables, Table

3, Population by Race Alone or in

Combination and Hispanic or Latino

Origin, for All Ages and for 18 Years and

Over, for Louisiana: 2000 and 2010, https

://www.census.gov/data/tables/2010/dec/

2010-redistricting-data.html?attachmen

t-list-39c07b6982%3Apage=1#attachme

nt-list-39c07b6982 (last visited Aug. 28,

2025) .......................................................... 9-10

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Historical Population

Change Data (1910-2020) (Apr. 26, 2021),

https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time

-series/dec/popchange-data-text.html ......

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Louisiana: 2000

(Sept. 2002), https://www2.census.gov/lib

rary/publications/2002/dec/phc-1-20.pdf .

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table 3, Population

of Voting Age, for States, by Race and

Spanish Origin: 1980 Census, https://

www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/

tables/p25/948/tab03.pdf (last visited

Aug. 28, 2025) ...........................................

xvii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B07404B,

Geographical Mobility in the Past Year

(Black or African American Alone) for

Residence 1 Year Ago in the United

States, 2023 American Community

Survey

1-Year

Estimates,

https://

data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2023.B0

7404B?q=B07404B:+Geographical+Mobi

lity+in+the+Past+Year+(Black+or+Afric

an+American+Alone)+for+Residence+1+

Year+Ago+in+the+United+States&tp=tr

ue (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) ..................

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B07404H,

Geographical Mobility in the Past Year

(White Alone, Not Hispanic or Latino) for

Residence 1 Year Ago in the United

States, 2023 American Community

Survey 1-Year Estimates, https://data.

census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2023.B07404

H?q=B07404H:+Geographical+Mobility+i

n+the+Past+Year+(White+Alone,+Not+

Hispanic+or+Latino)+for+Residence+1+

Year+Ago+in+the+United+States&tp=tr

ue (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) ..................

xviii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B19301B, Per

Capita Income in the Past 12 Months (in

2023 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars) (Black

or African American Alone), American

Community Survey 5-Year Estimates,

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2

023.B19301B?q=%22per+capita+income

%22&g=040XX00US22&y=2023

(last

visited Aug. 28, 2025) ...............................

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B19301H, Per

Capita Income in the Past 12 Months (in

2023 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars) (White

Alone, Not Hispanic or Latino), American

Community Survey 5-Year Estimates,

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2

023.B19301H?q=%22per+capita+income

%22&g=040XX00US22&y=2023

(last

visited Aug. 28, 2025) ...............................

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table P3, Race for

the Population 18 Years and Older,

https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNI

ALPL2020.P3?q=&y=2020&d=DEC+Red

istricting+Data+(PL+94-171)

(last

visited Aug. 28, 2025) ...............................

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table S1701, Poverty

Status in the Past 12 Months, American

Community Survey 5-Year Estimates,

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST5Y2

023.S1701?q=S1701&g=010XX00US_04

0XX00US22 (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) ..

xix

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table S2301,

Employment Status, American Community

Survey 5-Year Estimates, https://data.cen

sus.gov/table/ACSST5Y2023.S2301?q=%

22unemployment+rate%22&g=010XX00

US_040XX00US22&y=2023&moe=false

&tp=false (last visited Aug. 28, 2025) ......

U.S. DEP’T OF COM., 1990 Census of

Population, General Population Characteristics, Louisiana, https://www2.censu

s.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990

/cp-1/cp-1-20.pdf (last visited Aug. 28,

2025) ..........................................................

U.S. DEP’T OF JUST., CIVIL RIGHTS DIV. &

U.S. ATT’YS OFFICES FOR E., MIDDLE, AND

W. DISTS. OF LA., Investigation of the

Louisiana State Police (Jan. 16, 2025),

https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/13846

26/dl ...........................................................

U.S. DEP’T OF JUST., Justice Department

Dismisses Suit Against Denka, Delivering on President Trump’s Mandate to

End Radical DEI Programs (Mar. 7,

2025), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/jus

tice-department-dismisses-suit-againstdenka-delivering-president-trumps-man

date-end .....................................................

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued

Page(s)

U.S. DEP’T OF JUST., Justice Department

Files Complaint Alleging Public Health

Endangerment Caused by Denka Performance Elastomer’s Carcinogenic Air

Pollution (Feb. 28, 2025), https://www.

justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-depa

rtment-files-complaint-alleging-publichealth-endangerment-caused-denka .......

Ursula Noye, Blackstrikes: A Study of the

Racially Disparate Use of Peremptory

Challenges by the Caddo Parish District

Attorney’s Office, REPRIEVE AUSTRALIA,

(Aug. 2015), https://www.prisonpolicy.

org/scans/reprieve_australia/Blackstrike

s_Caddo_Parish_August_2015.pdf (last

visited Aug. 28, 2025) ...............................

William P. Quigley, Katrina Voting

Wrongs: Aftermath of Hurricane and

Weak Enforcement Dilute African

American Voting Rights in New Orleans,

14 WASH. & LEE J. C.R. & SOC. JUST. 49

(2007) ......................................................... 25, 26

William T. Hoston, Black Legislative

Politics: Examining the Issue of Voting

Rights in the Post-Hurricane Katrina

Period, 49 SOC. SCI. J. 476 (2012) ............. 27, 28

INTERESTS OF AMICI CURIAE1

Amici2 Dr. John Bardes of Louisiana State University,

Dr. R. Blakeslee Gilpin of Tulane University, and Dr.

Heather O’Connell3 of Louisiana State University, are

expert historians of Louisiana and the greater

American South. They file this brief to assist the Court

in understanding why past and present conditions in

Louisiana, including Louisiana’s demography, support

the State’s compelling interest in compliance with

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This recent

historical evidence, together with modern-day sociological data, reinforces the evidence in the trial and

Robinson records below. It supports a finding that the

totality of the circumstances firmly justify Louisiana’s

compliance with the Voting Rights Act in 2025, and the

reversal of the District Court accordingly.

INTRODUCTION AND

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is a “permanent,

nationwide ban on racial discrimination in voting[.]”

Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529, 557 (2013). The

scope of Section 2 includes congressional redistricting.

Allen v. Milligan, 599 U.S. 1, 38–41 (2023).

There is no question that Section 2 can require

powerful remedies. Accordingly, it requires a powerful

No counsel for a party authored this brief in whole or in part,

and no person other than amicus or their counsel made a

monetary contribution to this brief’s preparation and submission.

Institutional affiliation of amici is for identification only;

views expressed are the authors’ own.

At the initial merits stage, Dr. Adam Fairclough was included

with amici rather than Dr. O’Connell. Due to Dr. Fairclough’s

unavailability, Dr. O’Connell has been added.

showing before those remedies are available. Section 2

redistricting effects claims can only succeed when they

prove each of the three Gingles preconditions.

Milligan, 599 U.S. at 17–19. But this is not all Section

2 requires. Merely showing the Gingles preconditions

“is not sufficient to establish a violation unless, under

the totality of the circumstances, it can also be said

that the members of the protected class have less

opportunity to participate in the political process.”

Chisom v. Roemer, 501 U.S. 380, 397 (1991). Section 2

can only require remedial redistricting when “‘an

intensely local appraisal’ of the electoral mechanism

at issue” demonstrates that such remedial action is

justified. Milligan, 599 U.S. at 19 (quoting Thornburg

v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 79 (1986)).

The totality of the circumstances analysis (also

referred to as the Senate factors analysis) is the tool

courts use to make this intensely local determination.

The totality of the circumstances is examined only

after a plaintiff has proven a prima facie case of

vote dilution by establishing the three Gingles

preconditions, and “is ‘peculiarly dependent upon the

facts of each case.’” Id. This analysis ensures that

courts do not “commit the error of treating the three

Gingles conditions as exhausting the enquiry required

by § 2.” Johnson v. De Grandy, 512 U.S. 997, 1013

(1994). “Instead the Gingles requirements are

preconditions, consistent with the text and purpose of

§ 2, to help courts determine which claims could meet

the totality of the circumstances standard for a § 2

violation.” Bartlett v. Strickland, 556 U.S. 1, 21 (2009).

Failure to prove either the preconditions or the

totality of the circumstances is failure to prove a

violation. See Voinovich v. Quilter, 507 U.S. 146, 153

(1993) (reversing district court for failing to analyze

whether “under the totality of the circumstances, the

devices result in unequal access to the electoral process.”).

The ultimate touchstone of both prongs of the Section

2 analysis is to “prohibit[] any practice or procedure

that, ‘interacting with social and historical conditions,’

impairs the ability of a protected class to elect its

candidate of choice on an equal basis with other

voters.” Id. at 153 (quoting Gingles, 478 U.S. at 47).

The totality of the circumstances analysis is no idle

task. It requires a “searching practical evaluation of

the past and present reality.” Milligan, 599 U.S. at 19

(quoting Gingles, 478 U.S. at 79). The totality-of-thecircumstances inquiry investigates “whether a history

of persistent discrimination reflected in the larger

society and its bloc-voting behavior portend[s] any

dilutive effect from a newly proposed districting

scheme[.]” De Grandy, 512 U.S. at 1013. The analysis

looks backwards to help determine what the

prospective effect of a redistricting scheme will be.

Present conditions are of vital importance to the

Section 2 inquiry. Section 2 is “not based on any notion

that the law gives every minority group an entitlement

to some form of proportional representation.”

Mississippi Republican Exec. Comm. v. Brooks, 469

U.S. 1002, 1004 (1984) (Stevens, J., concurring in

summary affirmance). Section 2 requires “quite the

contrary. It rest[s] on specific findings of fact

describing the impairment . . . of [minority] voting

strength[.]” Id. Only in jurisdictions where careful

examination of the facts demonstrates that racial

discrimination denies minority voters equal electoral

opportunity has there been a wrong and can Section 2

require a remedy. Cf. Growe v. Emison, 507 U.S. 25, 40–

41 (1993). This is such a circumstance.

That “searching practical evaluation of the past and

present reality[,]” Milligan, 599 U.S. at 19, demonstrated that “the totality of the circumstances

weigh[ed] in favor of ” a violation in Louisiana’s

congressional map. Robinson v. Ardoin, 605 F. Supp. 3d

759, 851 (M.D. La. 2022). The district court in

Robinson considered voluminous evidence in weighing

the totality of the circumstances. Id. at 844–51. And

the district court’s conclusion that the totality-of-thecircumstances supported relief was affirmed on

appeal. Robinson v. Ardoin, 86 F.4th 574, 597–98 (5th

Cir. 2023).

In the portion of their brief highlighted by this

Court’s supplemental briefing order, Appellees make a

series of assertions suggesting that the totality-of-thecircumstances cannot be satisfied here. Brief for

Appellees, Louisiana v. Callais, Docket No. 24-109, 24110 (Jan. 21, 2025), at 38 (“Appellees’ First Br.”).

First, Appellees discount the importance of the

totality of the circumstances findings from the

Robinson litigation. Appellees’ First Br. at 38. This

argument is myopic. To pretend that there is no such

evidence anywhere is to ignore that the Robinson

litigation spawned these proceedings, and Louisiana’s

impetus to redraw its congressional districts in the

first place. Such a dodge does not pass muster.

Appellees then make three conclusory, erroneous

assertions: that Louisiana’s Black population has

“flatlined[,]” “dispers[ed] across the State[,]” and has

done so either as the result of “social advancements,

including integration,” or “Hurricane Katrina.” Appellees’

First Br. at 38. As set forth below, the Black population

in Louisiana has steadily grown in the last forty years

(while the White population has started to decline).

Despite this growth, Louisiana remains highly segre-

gated by race, for reasons linked to discrimination

throughout society. It is precisely this dynamic, the

“interact[ion] with social and historical conditions[,]”

Gingles, 478 U.S. at 47, which allowed the Robinson

court to determine that “the totality of the circumstances weigh[ed] in favor of” a finding of racial vote

dilution in Louisiana’s congressional map. Robinson v.

Ardoin, 605 F. Supp. 3d 759, 851 (M.D. La. 2022).

These errors undermine Appellees’ principal argument:

that Louisiana no longer has a compelling state

interest in compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

A careful, “searching” examination of “the past and

present reality” in Louisiana demonstrates quite the

opposite: Section 2 is still needed to ensure equal

opportunity for Black voters in Louisiana. The

judgment of the District Court should be reversed.

ARGUMENT

I. The Totality of the Circumstances Supports

Louisiana’s Compelling State Interest in

Complying With the Voting Rights Act.

Appellees argue that the totality of the circumstances analysis was not conducted in the court below,

and suggest that means no such analysis was done at

all. Appellees’ First Br. at 38. This is flatly incorrect.

Establishing vote dilution requires marshalling

facts that span the scope of a jurisdiction’s electoral

and social context, in order to determine whether past

and present effects of racial discrimination are causing

vote dilution. “[T]he ultimate conclusions about

equality or inequality of opportunity were intended by

Congress to be judgments resting on comprehensive,

not limited, canvassing of relevant facts.” De Grandy,

512 U.S. at 1011.

That comprehensive accounting is precisely what

happened here. The district court in Robinson considered voluminous evidence in conducting a Senatefactor-by-Senate-factor inquiry into the totality of the

circumstances. Robinson v. Ardoin, 605 F. Supp. 3d

759, 844–51 (M.D. La. 2022) (“Robinson I”).

As is required by the totality of the circumstances

analysis, the Robinson I court conducted a “searching”

examination. 605 F. Supp. 3d at 844–51; Milligan, 599

U.S. at 19. It carefully examined the evidence, and

concluded that the totality of the circumstances weighed

in favor of Plaintiffs. Robinson I, 605 F. Supp. 3d at

844–51.

These findings were not disturbed, or even meaningfully disputed, on appeal or in this collateral litigation.

The Fifth Circuit declined to issue a stay of the district

court order, and the State did not press a challenge on

the totality of the circumstances in its application.

Robinson v. Ardoin, 37 F.4th 208, 216 (5th Cir. 2022)

(“Robinson II”). A merits panel of the Fifth Circuit

agreed with the stay panel and found that the trial

court’s factual findings were “not clearly erroneous[.]”

Robinson v. Ardoin, 86 F.4th 574, 597–98 (5th Cir.

2023) (“Robinson III”).4

One additional proceeding in the Fifth Circuit concerned the

timing of the remedial hearing after Robinson I. In re Landry, 83

F.4th 300 (5th Cir. 2023). That panel issued partial relief, noting

that “the merits of a Section 2 violation of the Voting Rights Act

[have] no direct relationship with nor factual nor legal overlap

with the scheduling issues this panel confronts. Id. at 305.

As the Robinson III panel noted, “the district court

spent 39 pages in the published opinion discussing the

evidence presented and expert testimony heard during

its five-day evidentiary hearing, and 41 pages analyzing those facts and legal authority.” Id. at 598–99

(citation omitted). Only then did the district court

conclude that the totality of the circumstances favored

plaintiffs. Robinson I, 605 F. Supp. 3d at 851.

As for this litigation, the district court below made

no findings on the totality of the circumstances. See

Callais v. Landry, 732 F. Supp. 3d 574, 613 (W.D. La.

2024) (resolving case on first Gingles precondition).

The Robinson findings also align with the totalityof-the-circumstances analysis in Nairne v. Ardoin, a

challenge to Louisiana’s state legislative districts. 715

F. Supp. 3d 808 (M.D. La. 2024). There, after a full trial

on the merits concerning the same electoral

jurisdiction (the State of Louisiana), the district court

concluded that “all of the Senate Factors relevant to

the Court’s consideration in this case favor[ed]” relief.

Id. at 876. This analysis was affirmed by the Fifth

Circuit. Nairne v. Landry, No. 24-30115, 2025 U.S. App.

LEXIS 20758, at *69 (5th Cir. Aug. 14, 2025) (finding

“no clear error in each of the district court’s findings”).

Appellees’ assertion that “Appellants adduced zero

evidence at trial—and can cite nothing in the

legislative record—even beginning to apply the

Gingles totality of circumstances factors to the

Louisiana of 2024[,]” Appellees’ First Br. at 38, is

nothing more than an unremarkable observation that

this litigation did not turn on the totality-of-thecircumstances inquiry. Of course not. The totality-ofthe-circumstances, and the factfinding attendant to it,

was thoroughly litigated in the related, antecedent

action. See Robinson I, 605 F. Supp. 3d at 844–51.

Accord Callais v. Landry, 732 F. Supp. 3d 574, 607

(W.D. La. 2024) (recounting Robinson and assuming

“compliance with Section 2 was a compelling interest

for the State”); see also Nairne v. Ardoin, 715 F. Supp.

3d at 876 (totality of the circumstances weighed in

favor of relief).

The Robinson and Nairne findings stand for two

propositions here. First, contrary to Appellees’ argument, every court to conduct or review the relevant

statewide totality of the circumstances analysis found

it weighed in favor of a Section 2 violation. And second,

Louisiana continues to bear the effects of racial

discrimination in its electoral system. Robinson I, 605

F. Supp. 3d at 844–51; Nairne v. Ardoin, 715 F. Supp.

3d at 868–78.

* * *

Against the weight of these findings, Appellees

muster only three drive-by assertions that the totality

of the circumstances does not favor Section 2 liability.

They argue “[s]tatewide BVAP has flatlined while

dispersing across the State, propelled by social

advancements, including integration, and Hurricane

Katrina.” Appellees’ First Br. at 38. Amici discuss each

in turn.

A. Louisiana Has Seen Significant Growth,

Not Decline, in its Black Population.

In 1996, a federal district court found that a

challenged majority-minority congressional district,

which encompassed some of the same areas as District

6, was not required by the Voting Rights Act because

the minority population was too widely dispersed.

Hays v. Louisiana, 936 F. Supp. 360, 370 (W.D. La.

1996). Appellees argue this “perfectly encapsulates”

the composition of District 6 because statewide BVAP

has “flatlined while dispersing across the State” when

compared to 1996. Appellees’ First Br. at 23, 38.

This is simply untrue. Louisiana Census data

clearly refutes the notion that the Black population

has “flatlined[.]” Instead, Louisiana’s Black voting age

population (“BVAP”) has increased.

From 1980 to 2020, Louisiana’s BVAP clearly and

steadily increased, in both absolute numbers and as a

share of the eligible electorate. In 1980, the U.S.

Census Bureau reported that Louisiana had 766,187

Black residents of voting age, amounting to 26.6% of

the eligible electorate.5 In 1990 (the census which

furnished the population numbers at issue in Hays),

the Census reported 833,938 Black residents of voting

age, amounting to 27.87% of potential voters.6 In 20007

the Census reported 973,149 Black residents of voting

age (an increase of 27.0% relative to 1980), amounting

to 29.95% of those eligible to vote.8 And the 2020

See U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table 3, Population of Voting Age, for

States, by Race and Spanish Origin: 1980 Census, https://www2.

census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/tables/p25/948/tab03.pdf (last

visited Aug. 28, 2025).

See U.S. DEP’T OF COM., 1990 Census of Population, General

Population Characteristics, Louisiana, at 73, https://www2.cen

sus.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/cp-1/cp-1-20.pdf (last

visited Aug. 28, 2025).

Beginning with the 2000 Census, respondents had the option

to select more than one race. For the 2000 Census and later, Black

population figures are calculated from all respondents who selfidentified as Black, even if they selected more than one racial

identity. Accord Robinson I, 605 F. Supp. 3d at 819 (employing this

method). This Court has confirmed the validity of this approach.

Georgia v. Ashcroft, 539 U.S. 461, 473 n.1 (2003).

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, 2010 Redistricting Tables, Louisiana

Custom Tables, Table 3, Population by Race Alone or in

Combination and Hispanic or Latino Origin, for All Ages and for

Census reported a Louisiana BVAP of 1,115,769 (an

increase of 14.7% relative to 2000), amounting to

31.25% of the potential electorate.9

Meanwhile, over the past two decades, the nonHispanic White share of the eligible Louisiana electorate

actually fell from 2,128,485 residents, or 65.5% of the

voting-age population in 2000, to 2,082,110 residents

(a decrease of 2.18%), or 58.3% of the voting age

population in 2020.10 The only population that can be

said to have “flatlined” in Louisiana in recent years is

the non-Hispanic White population.

These numbers are even more revealing in the

context of Louisiana as a whole. Louisiana’s total

population has only grown very slightly in the past 20

years. In the 2000 Census, Louisiana had 4,468,976

total (not just voting-age) residents.11 In 2020,

18 Years and Over, for Louisiana: 2000 and 2010, https://

www.census.gov/data/tables/2010/dec/2010-redistricting-data.ht

ml?attachment-list-39c07b6982%3Apage=1#attachment-list-39c

07b6982 (navigating to Louisiana Custom Tables at Table 3) (last

visited Aug. 28, 2025).

See U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table P3, Race for the Population

18 Years and Older, https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIA

LPL2020.P3?q=&y=2020&d=DEC+Redistricting+Data+(PL+94171) (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

See id. A like-to-like analysis is not possible before the 2000

Census because “[t]he 1990 census questions on race and

Hispanic origin were changed for Census 2000.” Elizabeth M.

Grieco & Rachel C. Cassidy, Overview of Race and Hispanic

Origin, at 1 (Mar. 2001), https://www2.census.gov/library/

publications/decennial/2000/briefs/c2kbr01-01.pdf.

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Louisiana: 2000 (Sept. 2002), https://

www2.census.gov/library/publications/2002/dec/phc-1-20.pdf.

Louisiana had 4,657,757 total residents,12 for a growth

rate of only 4.2% in a time where the population of the

United States as a whole has grown 17.8%.13 This is

the main driver of Louisiana’s loss of a congressional

representative after the 2010 Census. To the extent

Louisiana’s population has not shrunk, it is in large

part due to growth in its Black population.

B. Louisiana’s Black Population Has Not

Dispersed.

Next, Appellees rely on the District Court’s finding

that the Black population in Louisiana has become

“even more [dispersed] since Hays’ nearly identical

slash district was struck down in the 1990s.” Appellees’

First Br. at 38, 47; see also Callais v. Landry, 732 F.

Supp. 3d at 613 (finding Louisiana’s Black population

to be more dispersed than when Hays was decided).14

Again, Appellees’ argument, and the court below’s

similar conclusion, is erroneous. The Black population

in Louisiana remains highly concentrated and segregated.

Louisiana is characterized more by residential stability

than dispersion. Louisiana migration data indicate

unusually low rates of migration; most Black (and

White) residents still reside in the area in which they

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Historical Population Change Data

(1910-2020) (Apr. 26, 2021), https://www.census.gov/data/tables/

time-series/dec/popchange-data-text.html.

Id.

If this argument were correct, it would bear on both the first

Gingles precondition, by making it difficult to draw a reasonably

configured demonstrative district, see Milligan, 599 U.S. at 28–

29, and the totality of the circumstances, by demonstrating

decreased racial segregation in Louisiana. Because it is not

correct, it does neither.

were born. When Louisianans do move, the largest

percentage relocates to surrounding areas.15

Black residents of Louisiana have some of the very

lowest rates of both inter-parish and interstate

migration, relative to Black residents of other U.S.

states. According to the U.S. Census American

Community Survey (“ACS”) 1-year estimates, 95.3% of

Black Louisiana residents lived in the same parish as

they had one year earlier. Only five states had lower

rates of Black intercounty or interstate migration.16

And according to U.S. News & World Report, Louisiana

is 50th out of 50 states in net migration to and from the

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B07404B, Geographical Mobility

in the Past Year (Black or African American Alone) for Residence

1 Year Ago in the United States, 2023 American Community

Survey 1-Year Estimates, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT

1Y2023.B07404B?q=B07404B:+Geographical+Mobility+in+the+

Past+Year+(Black+or+African+American+Alone)+for+Residence

+1+Year+Ago+in+the+United+States&tp=true (last visited Aug.

28, 2025); U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B07404H, Geographical

Mobility in the Past Year (White Alone, Not Hispanic or Latino) for

Residence 1 Year Ago in the United States, 2023 American

Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, https://data.census.gov/tab

le/ACSDT1Y2023.B07404H?q=B07404H:+Geographical+Mobility

+in+the+Past+Year+(White+Alone,+Not+Hispanic+or+Latino)+fo

r+Residence+1+Year+Ago+in+the+United+States&tp=true (last

visited Aug. 28, 2025). See also MIGRATION PATTERNS, https://

migrationpatterns.org/ (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B07404B, Geographical Mobility

in the Past Year (Black or African American Alone) for Residence

1 Year Ago in the United States, 2023 American Community

Survey 1-Year Estimates, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y

2023.B07404B?q=B07404B:+Geographical+Mobility+in+the+Pa

st+Year+(Black+or+African+American+Alone)+for+Residence+1

+Year+Ago+in+the+United+States&tp=true (last visited Aug. 28,

2025).

state. Louisiana is a state characterized not by

population dispersal, but by historic population stasis.

Geographic clustering is also commonly measured

using Local Moran’s I statistic, which assesses how

similar an area is to its neighbors.18 This tool is

especially useful for identifying “hot” (High-High) and

“cool” (Low-Low) spots—areas where high or low

values of a particular attribute cluster together. It also

flags outliers, such as High-Low (high values of an

attribute surrounded by low values) and Low-High

(the reverse). Applying this metric to Louisiana’s

racial demographics reveals significant spatial

clustering of the Black population in Louisiana.19

There are six distinct clusters indicating regions of the

state where parishes of starkly different percent Black

concentrations abut one another. Parishes with high

Black population shares are clustered along the

Mississippi and Red Rivers—corridors historically

shaped by intensive cotton cultivation, forced

Net Migration, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, https://www.us

news.com/news/best-states/rankings/economy/growth/net-migrat

ion (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

How Cluster and Outlier Analysis (Anselin Local Moran’s I)

Works, ESRI, https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-referen

ce/spatial-statistics/h-how-cluster-and-outlier-analysis-anselin-lo

cal-m.htm (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

These results were produced using a first-order Queen’s

contiguity spatial weights matrix and the free software GeoDa.

See Luc Anselin, Contiguity-Based Spatial Weights, https://geod

acenter.github.io/workbook/4a_contig_weights/lab4a.html (last

visited Aug. 28, 2025); An Introduction to Spatial Data Science,

GEODA, https://geodacenter.github.io/ (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

migration of tens of thousands of enslaved people, and

Black majorities.20

Descendants of the enslaved communities living

along the Red River system in 1860 are still

concentrated in the Red River Valley today. Tracking

the surnames of Black Louisianans descended from

those enslaved in District 6 finds that the large

majority of descendants of the enslaved communities

resided either in the same parish as their ancestors, or

in another parish within District 6.21 For example, a

plantation owner with the surname Joubert claimed

ownership of 74 enslaved people in St. Landry Parish

in 1860. Nearly 100 years later, there were 182 Black

Louisianans with the surname Joubert, and less than

10% of them lived outside of District 6 (with 83% still

residing in St. Landry).22 This finding is consistent

with other surnames analyzed.

Zooming in past the parish level, an analysis of

census blocks and voting precincts shows substantial

spatial concentration of Black voters statewide.

Roughly 7 in 10 Black adults (69.48%) live within

majority-Black census blocks.23 Nearly half (44.92%)

See Brief for Louisiana Historians as Amici Curiae

Supporting Appellants, Louisiana v. Callais, Docket No. 24-109,

24-110 (2024).

Id. at 21–25.

Id.

These figures are calculated using the 2025 redistricting

block equivalency file available on the Louisiana Secretary of

State website. See Shapefiles & Block Equivalency Files Based

Upon 2020 Census Geography, https://redist.legis.la.gov/defau

lt_ShapeFiles2020 (last visited Aug. 29, 2025) (2025 Block

Equivalency File). The block equivalency file gives the population

(including population by race) of every Census block in Louisiana,

along with each block’s corresponding precinct and parish. This

live in census blocks that are extremely segregated

(80% Black or more). Likewise, the overwhelming

majority of White adults (89.16%) live in majorityWhite census blocks and over half (57.61%) live in

census blocks that are extremely segregated (80%

White or more). In short, the racial concentration of

the voting-age population remains extremely

pronounced in Louisiana.

C. Louisiana’s Black Population Remains

Heavily Shaped by Racial Discrimination.

Appellees finally argue that the alleged flatlining

and dispersal of Louisiana’s Black population is due at

least in part to “social advancements, including

integration[.]” Appellees’ First Br. at 28, 38. This too is

incorrect. Lasting racial discrimination and inequality

continue to influence Louisiana’s Black population.

Amici do not purport to replicate the entire totalityof-the-circumstances analysis here. That analysis was

ably conducted by the Robinson I court, 605 F. Supp.

3d at 844–51. Instead, Amici highlight a few salient

categories, all of which provide significant evidence

that, counter to Appellees’ assertions, Louisiana’s

continued racial segregation is driven by discrimination.

1. School segregation.

School desegregation has remained painfully static

in Louisiana since the 1960s. Numerous parishes

across Louisiana have failed to comply with decadesold desegregation orders. In Concordia Parish, for

example, the 1965 desegregation case (Smith v.

enables calculation of the population demographics for each

Census block, precinct, and parish in Louisiana.

Concordia Parish School Board, No. 1:65-cv-11577

(W.D. La.)) remains active; the district has not been

declared unitary. After continued delays to

desegregation, the Fifth Circuit ordered district courts

in May of 1969 to “solicit alternative plans from

various defendant school boards.”24 A September 1970

order by the district court demanded an exhaustive set

of requirements for ensuring the school board was

complying with the desegregation order.25 There have

been hundreds of responses, motions and orders since,

all concerning the exact nature of compliance or lack

thereof with the desegregation orders of 1969-70.

The especially egregious example of Concordia

demonstrates how Louisiana’s schools and resources

are sharply divided by race. Despite a nearly even

districtwide demographic split (approximately 47.0%

White, 46.6% Black),26 discipline and access to rigor in

Concordia diverge: White students are 1.5 times more

likely than Black students to take at least one AP

class, while Black students are 2.6 times more likely

to be suspended than White students.27 Recent

Greg Margolis & Alex Moody, Smith v. Concordia Parish Sch.

Bd., C.R. LITIG. CLEARINGHOUSE, https://clearinghouse.net/ca

se/13739/ (last visited Aug. 28, 2025); see also Hall v. St. Helena

Parish Sch. Bd., 417 F.2d 801, 809, 812 (5th Cir. 1969)

(consolidating appeals of cases from across Louisiana).

Smith v. Concordia Parish Sch. Bd., No 1:65-cv-11577, ECF

No. 82 (W.D. La. Jan. 20, 2015) (digitizing order entered on Sept.

3, 1970).

Concordia Parish Public Schools, U.S. NEWS & WORLD

REPORT, https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/louisiana/distric

ts/concordia-parish-108738 (last visited Aug. 29, 2025).

Concordia Parish School District, PROPUBLICA (last updated

Oct. 2018), https://projects.propublica.org/miseducation/district/2

200480 (last visited Aug. 29, 2025).

reporting by the Los Angeles Times captures the onthe-ground contrast: Ferriday High (90% Black)

appears “old and worn, surrounded by barbed wire,”

while just eight miles away, Vidalia High (62% White)

boasts “clean and bright” facilities and a fresh paint

job; “Even at a glance, the differences are obvious,”

notes the paper. For Brian Davis, father of a Ferriday

student, these stark discrepancies suggest “we’re not

supposed to have the finer things. . . . It’s almost like

our kids don’t deserve it. . . . A lot of parents over here

in Ferriday, they’re stuck here because here they don’t

have the resources to move their kids from A to B. . . .

You’ll find schools like Ferriday — the term is, to me,

slipping into darkness.”28

Nevertheless, local and state leaders have

consistently fought to prevent any equalization of

resources. In 2024, the Department of Justice proposed

a consent order, which the Concordia Parish School

Board rejected.29 Louisiana’s Attorney General offered

to defend the Concordia Parish School Board at no

Collin Binkley & Sharon Lurye, Trump Officials Are Vowing

to End School Desegregation Orders. Some Parents Say They’re

Still Needed, L.A. TIMES (June 7, 2025), https://www.latimes.

com/world-nation/story/2025-06-07/trump-officials-are-vowing-toend-school-desegregation-orders-some-parents-say-theyre-still-n

eeded.

Draft Consent Order at 7, Smith v. Concordia Parish Sch.

Bd., No. 65-CV-11577 (W.D. La. 2024), available at https://coredocs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/

3196/FHS/5100460/Proposed_Consent_Order.pdf (last visited

Aug. 28, 2025); Sabrina Simms Robertson, School board votes

down DOJ consent order to restructure schools, forms cooperative

endeavor with AG’s office to fight it in court, NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

(Dec. 17, 2024), https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2024/12/17/sch

ool-board-votes-down-doj-consent-order-to-restructure-schools-fo

rms-cooperative-endeavor-with-ags-office-to-fight-it-in-court/.

cost, and her office has been holding strategy sessions

with the school board.30

The pattern of protracted resistance to school

desegregation, and the hoarding of public resources for

White students, has been replicated statewide.31

Moreover, segregation in public schooling does not

account for the additional racial segregation produced

by private schooling. While 23.7% of White students in

Sabrina Simms Robertson, Concordia School board, AG rep

strategize on desegregation lawsuit, NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT (July 7,

2025), https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2025/07/07/concordiaschool-board-meets-with-ag-representative-to-plan-strategy-for60-year-old-desegregation-case/; Sabrina Simms Robertson, State

AG, parish school board to review desegregation lawsuit, NATCHEZ

DEMOCRAT (Dec. 9, 2024), https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/

2024/12/09/state-ag-parish-school-board-to-review-desegregationlawsuit/.

Carlie Kollath Wells, Russell Contreras & Kavya Beheraj,

Louisiana’s Most Segregated School Systems, Mapped, AXIOS NEW

ORLEANS (May 17, 2024), https://www.axios.com/local/new-orle

ans/2024/05/17/louisianas-most-segregated-school-systems-mapped

(noting that “Louisiana’s public schools have become more

racially segregated in the past 30 years”). See generally CARL

BANKSTON & STEPHEN CALDAS, A TROUBLED DREAM: THE

PROMISE AND FAILURE OF SCHOOL DESEGREGATION IN LOUISIANA

(2022); United States v. Desoto Parish Sch. Bd., No. 67-CV-12589

(W.D. La.); Thomas v. Sch. Bd. of St. Martin Parish, No. 65-CV11314 (W.D. La.); Moore v. Tangipahoa Parish Sch. Bd., No. 65CV-15556 (E.D. La.). See also Adam Harris, The New Secession,

THE ATLANTIC (May 20, 2019), https://www.theatlantic.

com/education/archive/2019/05/resegregation-baton-rouge-publicschools/589381/; Greg LaRose, Proposal would let breakaway

school districts avoid statewide votes, LOUISIANA ILLUMINATOR

(Apr. 4, 2024), https://lailluminator.com/2024/04/04/school-districts/.

Louisiana attended private school in 2021-22, only

5.8% of Black students did the same.32

2. Housing segregation.

Louisiana is ranked moderately high in terms of

Black-White residential segregation relative to other

states.33 There is even greater Black-White separation

at the local level. By the standard dissimilarity index,

Orleans Parish scores about 0.6—a level researchers

classify as very high—and Caddo Parish (Shreveport)

is around 0.53.34 Independent analyses label both New

Orleans and Baton Rouge as high-segregation metros.

The New Orleans metro area is the fifteenth-most

segregated region in the United States; Baton Rouge,

Lake Charles, and Shreveport-Bossier City each make

Student Racial Demographics: Louisiana Elementary and

Secondary Public and Private Schools, LA. LEGIS. AUDITOR (Jan.

25, 2023), https://app.lla.state.la.us/publicreports.nsf/0/a4fa835e

5738df42862589420071c04c/$file/00000951.pdf?openelement&.7

773098.

Residential Segregation (Black/White) by State, NAT’L INST.

ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, https://hdpulse.ni

mhd.nih.gov/data-portal/physical/table?age=001&age_options=a

geall_1&demo=01005&demo_options=air_pollution_1&physicalt

opic=100&physicaltopic_options=physical_2&race=00&race_opti

ons=raceall_1&sex=0&sex_options=sexboth_1&statefips=00&st

atefips_options=area_states&state (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

FED. RSRV. BANK OF ST. LOUIS, White to Non-White Racial

Dissimilarity (5-year estimate) Index for Orleans Parish, LA,

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RACEDISPARITY022071 (last

visited Aug. 28, 2025); FED. RSRV. BANK OF ST. LOUIS, White to

Non-White Racial Dissimilarity (5-year estimate) Index for Caddo

Parish, LA, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RACEDISPARITY02

2017 (last visited Aug. 28, 2025). See also Residential Segregation,

DIVERSITY AND DISPARITIES, https://s4.ad.brown.edu/projects/di

versity/segregation2010/Default.aspx (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

the top fifty. Since 1991, five of Louisiana’s six largest

metro areas have become more racially segregated.36

Louisiana’s parishes are also becoming more racially

segregated: From 2013 to 2023, the average parish

racial dissimilarity index score climbed from 37.5 to

39.0.37

Housing audit studies, which ask people with

comparable qualifications but of different races to

record how they are treated, are widely recognized as

the gold standard for identifying housing discrimination. A study focusing on New Orleans and several

other major U.S. cities found that Black auditors were

far more likely to be denied housing than White

auditors.38 In New Orleans, the Black auditor was

treated “unfavorably” relative to the White auditor in

43 out of 75 tests. The discrimination was notably

more severe in New Orleans than in the other cities

because there was a strikingly high rate of outright

refusals to even show the housing unit to Black

auditors. These findings underscore how Louisiana

Most to Least Segregated Metro Regions in 2020, BERKELEY

OTHERING & BELONGING INST., https://belonging.berkeley.edu/mo

st-least-segregated-metro-regions-2020 (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

Change in Segregation, 1990-2019, BERKELEY OTHERING &

BELONGING INST., https://belonging.berkeley.edu/change-segrega

tion-1990-2019 (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

Racial Dissimilarity Index | Louisiana, FED. RSRV. ECON.

DATA, FED. RSRV. BANK OF ST. LOUIS, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/re

lease/tables?rid=419&eid=353324 (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

LA. FAIR HOUS. ACTION CTR., Denials, Discounts, and

Discrimination: An Investigation into Racial Discrimination in

Rental Practices in the Gulf South (2021), https://lafairhousing.

org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/LaFHAC-Denials-Discounts-andDiscrimination-in-the-Gulf-South.pdf (last visited Aug. 29, 2025).

housing access, and therefore residential patterns,

remain shaped by racial discrimination.

3. Other socioeconomic measures.

The American Human Development Index (AHDI) is

a widely used tool that combines official data on

health, education, and standard of living to measure

overall life quality on a scale of 0 to 10.39 The 2020

report shows an overall United States score of 5.24; a

Louisiana score of 4.35; but a White Louisianan score

of 5.15 compared with a Black Louisianan score of

2.93.40 The factors driving this differential are that

Black Louisianans have significantly shorter life

expectancy, more limited educational access, and

significantly lower income levels.

Mortality rates in the state further demonstrate the

vast gulf that still exists between Black and White

Louisianans. Measured in deaths per 100,000

residents, Whites have a premature avoidable

mortality rate of just 393.6 while Blacks have a rate of

617.2—an absolute gap of 223.6 per 100,000, meaning

the Black rate is about 56.8% higher.41

Unemployment rates follow the same pattern.

According to the ACS 2019–2023 5-year estimates, the

unemployment rate for Black Louisianans (9.7%) is

See Kristen Lewis, A Portrait of Louisiana 2020: Human

Development in an Age of Uncertainty, 9 (2020), https://ssrcstatic.s3.amazonaws.com/moa/A_Portrait_of_Louisiana_2020.pdf

(last visited Aug. 29, 2025).

Id. at 26.

David C. Radley et al., Advancing Racial Equality in U.S.

Health Care: The Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health

Disparities Report, THE COMMONWEALTH FUND (Apr. 18, 2024),

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/20

24/apr/advancing-racial-equity-us-health-care.

more than twice that of White Louisianans (4.6%)—a

disparity of 110.9%. This gap vastly surpasses the

national average: Nationally, the disparity between

Black and non-Hispanic White unemployment rates is

84.6%.42

So too with poverty. According to the ACS 2019–2023

5-year estimates, 29.8% of Black Louisianans live

below the poverty line, compared with 12.4% of nonHispanic White Louisianans—a 140.3% higher rate.43

Income figures tell the same story. Using the ACS

2019–2023 5-year per-capita income figures, the

average income for non-Hispanic White Louisianans is

nearly twice that of Black Louisianans—$41,753 vs.

$22,710. Put another way, Black Louisianans earn

45.6% less than White Louisianans.44

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table S2301, Employment Status,

American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, https://data.

census.gov/table/ACSST5Y2023.S2301?q=%22unemployment+ra

te%22&g=010XX00US_040XX00US22&y=2023&moe=false&tp=

false (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table S1701, Poverty Status in the Past

12 Months, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates,

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST5Y2023.S1701?q=S1701&g=

010XX00US_040XX00US22 (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B19301H, Per Capita Income in

the Past 12 Months (in 2023 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars) (White

Alone, Not Hispanic or Latino), American Community Survey 5Year Estimates, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2023.B19

301H?q=%22per+capita+income%22&g=040XX00US22&y=2023

(last visited Aug. 28, 2025); U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, Table B19301B,

Per Capita Income in the Past 12 Months (in 2023 InflationAdjusted Dollars) (Black or African American Alone), American

Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, https://data.census.gov/

table/ACSDT5Y2023.B19301B?q=%22per+capita+income%22&g

=040XX00US22&y=2023 (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

U.S. News & World Report rankings bear out these

findings. Their study of racial income inequality labels

Louisiana the 13th worst state for racial income

inequality (38th overall).45 The magazine’s “Equality

Metric,” which encompasses race, gender, and

disability, is even harsher, with Louisiana ranked 44th

overall.46

Finally, consider homeownership rates by the race of

householder:47

Year

White

Black

1990

72.3%

50.9%

2000

75.7%

51.8%

2010

76.0%

51.1%

2020

77.3%

46.1%

Despite the Black voting-age population growing

from 26.6% to 31.25% of the electorate, the

homeownership rate fell for Black residents (by 4.8%)

while increasing for White residents (by 5%). Overall,

the White-Black gap in homeownership rates grew by

9.8%, from 21.4% in 1990 to 31.2% in 2020.

Income Gap by Race, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, https://

www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/opportunity/equality/

income-gap-race (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

Equality, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, https://www.

usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/opportunity/equality (last

visited Aug. 28, 2025).

Forecasting State and National Trends in Household

Formation and Homeownership: Louisiana, URBAN INSTITUTE,

https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/housing-finance-policy-cen

ter/projects/forecasting-state-and-national-trends-household-for

mation-and-homeownership/louisiana?utm (last visited Aug. 28,

2025).

4. Hurricane Katrina.

Appellees also suggest that Hurricane Katrina is a

non-discriminatory explanation for the purported

dispersal of Black Louisianans. Appellees’ First Br. at

38. But careful study of the events following Hurricane

Katrina illustrates that racial discrimination played a

key role in migration and return.

Return migration to storm-affected areas was highly

racially selective.48 White residents were generally

able to return home more quickly than Black

residents, due in large part to the severity of the

damage sustained by the houses of Black residents.49

Half of White residents had returned to New Orleans

within 3 months of Katrina, whereas fewer than half

of Black residents had returned to the city within 14

months.50 By one 2015 estimate, over 175,000 Black

residents left New Orleans in the year after Katrina,

and more than 75,000 never returned—and in

Katrina’s aftermath, while the city’s poor remained

overwhelmingly Black, the upper and middle classes

were increasingly White.51

While some New Orleans neighborhoods became

more racially diverse after Katrina, this change

largely reflected the inability of many Black residents

to return, combined with White residents moving into

Elizabeth Fussell et al., Race, Socioeconomic Status, and

Return Migration to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, 31

POPULATION AND ENV’T 20 (2010).

Id.

Id. at 31.

Ben Casselman, Katrina Washed Away New Orleans’s Black

Middle Class, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT (Aug. 24, 2015), https://five

thirtyeight.com/features/katrina-washed-away-new-orleanss-blackmiddle-class.

predominantly Black neighborhoods.52 Several neighboring parishes implemented discriminatory measures

intended to prevent those displaced by Katrina from

obtaining housing in their parishes: one restricted

homeowners’ abilities to rent single-family homes to

non-relatives (until federal civil rights litigation forced

them to stop), while another passed a resolution

opposing low-income, multi-family housing in the

areas closest to New Orleans.53 And in response to

evacuees arriving in St. Tammany Parish post-Katrina

the sheriff “announced that people with dreadlocks or

‘chee wee hairstyles’ could ‘expect to be getting a visit

from a sheriff ’s deputy.’”54 A broader body of research

demonstrates that disasters often exacerbate racial

inequality, in part due to inequities in how FEMA aid

is distributed.55

Black New Orleans residents also disproportionately faced obstacles to voting after the storm. During

the mayoral elections following Katrina in 2006,

Nathan Babb, “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home:” Studying

Ethnoracial Segregation Trends in New Orleans Pre and Post

Hurricane Katrina, PRINCETON U.: J. PUB. & INT’L AFFS. (May 5,

2021), https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/baby-wont-you-please-comehome-studying-ethnoracial-segregation-trends-new-orleans-preand-post.

William P. Quigley, Katrina Voting Wrongs: Aftermath of

Hurricane and Weak Enforcement Dilute African American Voting

Rights in New Orleans, 14 WASH. & LEE J. C.R. & SOC. JUST. 49,

57–58 (2007).

Id. at 58 (quoting Paul Rioux, Sheriff Jack Strain is Sticking

to His Guns, NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE, July 16, 2006, at A1;

Paul Rioux, Group to Comb Sheriff’s Files for Signs of Hiring

Bias, NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE, Aug. 3, 2006, at A1).

E.g., Junia Howell & James R. Elliott, Damages Done: The

Longitudinal Impacts of Natural Hazards on Wealth Inequality

in the United States, 66 SOC. PROBS. 448 (2019).

turnout actually increased in White areas that had

been less affected by the storm, but notably decreased

in Black neighborhoods, which had suffered more

damage.56

Facing litigation, the state legislature adopted some

limited measures to ease the burden on displaced

voters ahead of the 2006 elections, but they were

cumbersome and left out many displaced residents.57

First-time voters were not able to vote by mail unless

they had registered between October 5, 2004, and

September 25, 2005 (just one month after Katrina).58

Satellite voting centers were available at ten locations

within the state, but excluded many voters refuging in

other states.59 Even these limited measures expired

ahead of the 2007 elections,60 despite continued

displacement.61 And sure enough, in 2007, for the first

time in over two decades, the city council became

majority-White, following an election in which more

White voters participated than Black voters and

voting was largely along racial lines.62 Two New

Orleans seats in the state legislature and a state court

judgeship also flipped from Black to White elected

Quigley, supra note 53, at 71–72.

Id. at 67–71.

Id. at 69 & n.134.

Id.

Id. at 73–74.

See, e.g., Casselman, supra note 51 (finding that a large

number of Black residents still had not returned even by 2015).

Adam Nossiter, Whites Take a Majority on New Orleans’s

Council, N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 20, 2007), https://www.nytimes.

com/2007/11/20/us/nationalspecial/20orleans.html (noting that

“[r]acial divisions on the Council have been sharp”).

officials. The percentage of Black registrants who

voted in the October and November 2007 races in

Orleans Parish decreased by 18.22% and 31.13%,

respectively, compared to those elections in 2003,

whereas White percentages decreased by only 6.68%

and 20.51%, respectively.64

This displacement was astoundingly welcomed by

some as a political opportunity.65 Following Katrina,

some suggested that the electoral “margin of victory

[in Louisiana] was living in the Astrodome in Houston.”66

Some residents expressed a desire to see the city

rebuilt “in a completely different way: demographically, geographically, and politically.”67 And although

Black legislators sought to facilitate ballot access for

displaced Black voters, many of their efforts failed.68

Id.

LA. SEC’Y OF STATE, Post Election Statistics – Parish,

https://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/Pages/PostElectionSt

atisticsParish.aspx (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

GOP Eyes Big Easy Gains After Incumbent Lapses, WASH.

TIMES (Oct. 26, 2005), https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/

2005/oct/26/20051026-111834-1596r/.

Michael A. Fletcher & Spencer S. Hsu, Storms Alter

Louisiana Politics, WASH. POST (Oct. 13, 2005), https://www.

washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/10/14/storms-alter-lou

isiana-politics/a1a58f69-d4b0-4277-b28e-72595579d346/.

Christopher Cooper, Old-Line Families Escape Worst of Flood

and Plot the Future, WALL ST. J. (Sept. 8, 2005), https://www.

wsj.com/articles/SB112614485840634882?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=A

SWzDAguwrwAbls81ohum-O90zmig-FBUEh9kalFRvh3H5n2Y

Y4y0Dts8J9MHqhHRqM%3D&gaa_ts=68af1239&gaa_sig=Rzz2

M2wTiIhnuP-YvpP9cifuC9IHSmI-f_wi3c_Nq-6HC39eNUGvNm

84tsvGjQB6hzIprF-Kb219nALEDhwiuw%3D%3D.

William T. Hoston, Black Legislative Politics: Examining the

Issue of Voting Rights in the Post-Hurricane Katrina Period, 49

SOC. SCI. J. 476, 481, 483 (2012).

Nor was this failure strictly along partisan lines, as

White Democrats were less likely to support such

measures than their near-unanimous Black

counterparts.69

These events are but the tip of the iceberg of

challenges faced by southeastern Louisianans after

Hurricane Katrina. To conclude that any dispersal

resulting from these events somehow proves the

Voting Rights Act is no longer needed in Louisiana is

a profound misreading of this history.

5. State-enacted intentional discrimination.

Federal courts and federal agencies have repeatedly

determined that Louisiana’s local, parish, and state

officials engaged in shocking, flagrant, and widespread

intentional racial discrimination in the past decade

alone.

In January 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice

determined that the Louisiana State Police engage in

a statewide “pattern or practice” of conduct that

violates the Fourth Amendment, characterized by

excessive use of force that was disproportionately

directed towards Black residents. Troopers repeatedly

used racially derogatory language—for example, one

trooper, who was never disciplined, called a coworker

a “f---ing n-----.” The agency systematically “failed to

meaningfully impose discipline in the face of instances

of explicit racial bias.”70

Id. at 481–82.

U.S. DEP’T OF JUST., CIVIL RIGHTS DIV. & U.S. ATT’YS OFFICES

E., MIDDLE, AND W. DISTS. OF LA., Investigation of the

Louisiana State Police at 1–2, 6, 23 (Jan. 16, 2025), https://www.

justice.gov/crt/media/1384626/dl.

FOR

In 2023, the FBI opened an investigation into the

East Baton Rouge Police Department’s use of an

unmarked warehouse, known as the “Brave Cave,” to

strip, humiliate, and torture detainees, the overwhelming majority of whom were Black and Latino. In

February 2025, the Middle District of Louisiana ruled

that civil claims against the officers involved may

proceed.71

Higher courts, including this Court, have repeatedly

reversed Louisiana convictions for violations of Batson

v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). E.g., Snyder v.

Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472 (2008); Louisiana v.

Broussard, 318 So. 3d 683 (La. 2018)). An empirical

study of Caddo Parish felony trials found that

prosecutors from the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s

Office struck Black prospective jurors 46% of the time,

compared with 15% for non-Black jurors; some

prosecutors struck Black jurors at 4.5 to 5 times the

rate of others.72

This Court has also recognized the direct line

between Jim Crow-era policies and contemporary

racial discrimination. In 2020, this Court struck down

Louisiana’s non-unanimous (split) jury rule, holding

that the Sixth Amendment requires unanimous

verdicts in state criminal trials. Ramos v. Louisiana,

See generally Brown v. Lawrence, No. 23-1313

(M.D. La. Feb. 19, 2025). See also Livia Albeck-Ripka, F.B.I.

Investigating Charges of Abuse by Baton Rouge Police in ‘Brave

Cave’, N.Y. TIMES (Sept. 24, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/20

23/09/24/us/louisiana-police-brave-cave-abuse.html.

Ursula Noye, Blackstrikes: A Study of the Racially Disparate

Use of Peremptory Challenges by the Caddo Parish District

Attorney’s Office, REPRIEVE AUSTRALIA, 2, 7–11 (Aug. 2015),

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/reprieve_australia/Blackstrik

es_Caddo_Parish_August_2015.pdf (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

590 U.S. 83 (2020). In its opinion, the Court attributed

the origins of the rule to Louisiana’s 1898

constitutional convention, whose stated aim was to

“establish the supremacy of the white race.” Id. at 87.

Louisiana’s overall incarceration rate is among the

highest in the nation, and Black Louisianans are

vastly overrepresented within the state’s prisons.73

Roughly 75% of people serving life sentences without

parole are Black; a staggering 81% of those who were

26 and younger when sentenced to life without parole

are Black.74 The state’s largest penitentiary—Louisiana

State Penitentiary at Angola—is a former slave

plantation developed by one of the nation’s largest

slave traders, Isaac Franklin.75 It remains a place

where prisoners, overwhelmingly Black, are coerced to

perform unpaid field labor by hand. Former inmates

routinely liken conditions at Angola to chattel

slavery: “You can’t call it anything else. It’s just

slavery,” stated Calvin Thomas, a former detainee, in

2024.76 Courts have repeatedly found that living and

Louisiana, PRISON POL’Y INITIATIVE, https://www.prison

policy.org/profiles/LA.html (last visited Aug. 28, 2025).

Life in Prison Without Parole in Louisiana, SENT’G PROJECT

(Jan. 23, 2024), https://www.sentencingproject.org/fact-sheet/lifein-prison-without-parole-in-louisiana.

Joanne Ryan & Stephanie L. Perrault, Angola: Plantation to

Penitentiary, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENG’RS, NEW ORLEANS DIST., 1

(2007), https://www.crt.state.la.us/Assets/OCD/archaeology/disco

verarchaeology/virtual-books/PDFs/Angola_Pop.pdf (last visited

Aug. 28, 2025). See generally JOSHUA D. ROTHMAN, THE LEDGER

AND THE CHAIN: HOW DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADERS SHAPED AMERICA

(2021).

Robin McDowell & Margie Mason, Prisoners in the US are

part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food

brands, AP NEWS (Jan. 29, 2024), https://apnews.com/article/

labor conditions at Angola violate detainees’ Eighth

Amendment rights.77 In May 2025, a federal court

ordered enhanced heat protections for prisoners

working on the “field line,” where summer temperatures routinely exceed 90 degrees and often top 100

degrees.78 About 65% of Angola’s incarcerated

population is Black.79

In Louisiana housing and zoning cases, federal

courts have repeatedly found racial discrimination.

After Hurricane Katrina, St. Bernard Parish passed a

series of parish ordinances and zoning measures

aimed at excluding Black New Orleanians from

moving into the parish, including a “blood relative

rule” that restricted rental housing to an owner’s blood

relative. In 2009, the U.S. District Court for the

Eastern District of Louisiana held that the Parish’s

actions violated the Fair Housing Act and were

undertaken with racially discriminatory intent.80 The

state’s post-Katrina “Road Home” grant formula also

disproportionately disfavored poor, predominantly

Black homeowners, prompting litigation that

culminated in a 2011 HUD–Louisiana settlement

prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb474796328331

6e494eadf08c4e.

See, e.g., Lewis v. Cain, No. 15-CV-318 (M.D. La.); Alex A. v.

Edwards, No. 22-CV-573 (M.D. La).

Voice of the Experienced v. LeBlanc, No. 23-CV-01304, 2025

U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163943, at *11 (M.D. La. Aug. 22, 2025).

McDowell & Mason, supra note 76.

Greater New Orleans Fair Hous. Action Ctr. v. St. Bernard

Parish, 641 F. Supp. 2d 563 (E.D. La. 2009).

delivering an additional $62 million in compensation

to affected owners.81

The Environmental Protection Agency and the

Department of Justice have also repeatedly found

strong evidence that Black residents have been

subjected to discrimination through the state’s failure

to enforce environmental regulations, particularly in

the majority-Black Mississippi River corridor known

as “Cancer Alley.” Home to more than 200 petrochemical plants and refineries, the region’s estimated

cancer risks from air pollution exceed federal

thresholds. In 2022, the EPA found strong evidence

that Black residents and schoolchildren near Denka’s

LaPlace plant have been subjected to racial discrimination via state permitting and enforcement patterns.82

In February 2023, the Department of Justice, on behalf

of the EPA, filed a complaint alleging that emissions

Jeff Adelson et al., The Road Home program shortchanged

low-income homeowners in Louisiana. New data proves it,

NOLA.COM (Dec. 11, 2022), https://www.nola.com/news/katrina/

how-louisianas-road-home-program-shortchanged-the-poor/artic

le_b61193f0-773e-11ed-b339-1fb6f4dbaa42.amp.html; David Hammer,

Behind the Key Decision That Left Many Poor Homeowners

Without Enough Money to Rebuild After Katrina, PROPUBLICA

(Dec. 13, 2022), https://www.propublica.org/article/why-louisianaroad-home-program-based-grants-on-home-values; HUD and

Louisiana Announce Settlement Agreement to End Legal Challenge

to Road Home Program, U.S. DEP’T OF HOUS. & URB. DEV. (July 6,

2011), https://archives.hud.gov/news/2011/pr11-138.cfm.

Letter from U.S. Env’t Prot. Agency, Off. of Env’t Just. &

External C.R., to La. Dep’t of Env’t Quality & La. Dep’t of Health

(Oct. 12, 2022), https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/20

22-10/2022%2010%2012%20Final%20Letter%20LDEQ%20LDH

%2001R-22-R6%2C%2002R-22-R6%2C%2004R-22-R6.pdf. See also

Environmental racism in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’, must end, say

UN human rights experts, UN NEWS (Mar. 2, 2021), https://

news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086172.

from Denka’s LaPlace facility created unsafe concentrations around homes and schools in predominantly

Black St. John the Baptist Parish.83 In March 2025,

the Justice Department voluntarily dismissed that

lawsuit; that dismissal, however, did not alter the

EPA’s underlying risk assessments or findings that

Louisiana’s environmental permitting and enforcement practices impose disproportionate pollution

burdens on Black communities and may violate

federal civil rights law.84

These formal findings, court orders, data, and lived

conditions all demonstrate that present-day discrimination in Louisiana is systemic and state-enabled. The

recurrence of the same harms reflects institutional

choices traceable to Jim Crow and reproduced through

contemporary practices, ongoing and mutually

reinforcing. Black Louisianans, and through them

Louisiana as a whole, therefore have a compelling

interest in the continued strength and vigorous

enforcement of Section 2, and in robust remedies that

secure equal access to the political process.

* * *

Every patriotic American looks forward to the day

when enforcement under the Voting Rights Act is no

longer necessary. Yet aspiration cannot substitute for

U.S. DEP’T OF JUST., Justice Department Files Complaint

Alleging Public Health Endangerment Caused by Denka Performance Elastomer’s Carcinogenic Air Pollution (Feb. 28, 2025),

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-filescomplaint-alleging-public-health-endangerment-caused-denka.

U.S. DEP’T OF JUST., Justice Department Dismisses Suit

Against Denka, Delivering on President Trump’s Mandate to End

Radical DEI Programs (Mar. 7, 2025), https://www.justice.gov/

opa/pr/justice-department-dismisses-suit-against-denka-deliveri

ng-president-trumps-mandate-end.

evidence. Until discriminatory practices by government institutions are truly relegated to the past, the

Voting Rights Act remains an essential safeguard to

prevent current harm. The totality of the circumstances analysis ensures that Section 2 remains

available where needed and operates only when

discriminatory harm is present. The history and

current conditions—of Louisiana, the Voting Rights

Act, and our nation—demand nothing less.

* * *

CONCLUSION

The judgement of the three-judge district court

should be reversed.

Respectfully submitted,

HILARY HARRIS KLEIN

Counsel of Record

CHRISTOPHER SHENTON

JEFFREY LOPERFIDO

ADRIANNE SPOTO

LILY TALERMAN

HELENA ABBOTT

RACHEL ALLORE

MITCHELL BROWN

SOUTHERN COALITION FOR

SOCIAL JUSTICE

P.O. Box 51280

Durham, NC 27717

(610) 574 5244

hilaryhklein@scsj.org

September 3, 2025

Counsel for Amici Curiae

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.