The U.S. Supreme Court late on May 4 took the unusual step of making its recent ruling to limit the use of race in redistricting effective ahead of the usual 32-day waiting period.
There are fewer than 32 days between April 29 and the first U.S. House primary elections that were scheduled for May 16, so if the waiting period were not waived, the primaries would have had to take place using the very same map the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a concurring opinion, saying, “there is good reason to depart from the default rule here.”
“The need for prompt action by this Court is clear,” Alito wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.
“The date scheduled for the beginning of early voting in the primary election has already passed. The congressional districting map enacted by the legislature has been held to be unconstitutional, and the general election will be held in just six months.”
“The Court’s decision in these cases has spawned chaos in the State of Louisiana,” Jackson wrote.
“By my count, we have granted an application to issue the judgment forthwith over a party’s objection only twice in the last 25 years,” she wrote.
“To avoid the appearance of partiality here, we could, as per usual, opt to stay on the sidelines and take no position by applying our default procedures. But, today, the Court chooses the opposite. Not content to have decided the law, it now takes steps to influence its implementation.”