Attorney General Kwame Raoul Joins Coalition Urging Supreme Court to Protect Voting Rights Act Enforcement

Photo Credit: kwameraoul.com Attorney General Kwame Raoul, alongside a coalition of 20 attorneys general, recently urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reaffirm that states, in exercising their responsibility to draw voting districts, should be given the first opportunity to redraw legislative maps in response to court orders identifying likely violations of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Raoul and the coalition filed an amicus brief in Louisiana v. Callais supporting Louisiana and a group of Louisiana voters seeking to uphold a congressional map that includes two majority-Black districts. “Everyone deserves the right to vote, regardless of where they live or the color of their skin,” Raoul said. “As demographics shift around the state of Illinois and across the country, states should have the ability to redraw their legislative maps to ensure everyone has equal voting opportunities.” In 2022, a Louisiana federal court found the state’s congressional map likely diluted the votes of Black residents and thus violated Section 2 of the VRA. In response, to comply with the VRA, the Louisiana legislature enacted a new map in 2024 that added a second majority-Black district. Later, a different group of voters sued the state, arguing that the map adding a second majority-Black...