Federal panel blocks Louisiana's SB8 majority-Black district as a racial gerrymander

A three-judge federal panel in the Western District of Louisiana ruled 2-1 that Senate Bill 8 — which created a second majority-Black district stretching 250 miles from Shreveport to Baton Rouge — violated the Equal Protection Clause by using race as the predominant factor. Judges Robert Summerhays and David Joseph, both Trump appointees, formed the majority; Judge Carl Stewart, a Clinton appointee and the panel's only Black member, dissented. The ruling blocked SB8 from use in future elections and was appealed directly to the Supreme Court.