The United States Supreme Court has decided not to rule on a dispute over alleged “racial gerrymandering” in Arkansas.
The SCOTUS ordered a lower court to reconsider its ruling in the case.
The Supreme Court’s decision is a setback for liberal groups challenging the state’s Republican-drawn districts.
A three-judge appeals court had upheld Arkansas’ congressional map in May 2023.
The court found no “plausible” evidence that race motivated the map’s creation.
The situation has generated mountains of controversy.
The Supreme Court wiped that finding and told the court to consider the issue further.
It follows the Supreme Court’s ruling in a similar controversy in South Carolina, in which the court sided with the state’s Republican legislature.
It’s the latest battle over race and redistricting ahead of the 2024 elections.
Republicans are now defending a razor-thin House majority.
The plaintiffs in Arkansas claimed that black voters were divided between two different districts in an attempt to dilute their voting power.
Arkansas’ Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Griffin predicts the ruling would now allow the state’s map to stand.
“That decision won’t change the result here; plaintiffs’ claims still fail as a matter of law and will be thrown out yet again,” Griffin said.
Many redistricting disputes hinge on Voting Rights Act claims of “vote dilution.”
In a separate dispute in South Carolina last month, the Supreme Court urged caution when weighing racial gerrymandering accusations.
The Supreme Court found no concrete evidence of racial motive in South Carolina’s map.
Justices warned against using racial gerrymandering claims as a pretext to challenge political gerrymanders.
While racial gerrymandering is illegal under federal law, the Supreme Court has ruled that the courts should not decide partisan gerrymandering cases.
“A party challenging a map’s constitutionality must disentangle race and politics if it wishes to prove that the legislature was motivated by race as opposed to partisanship,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote.
“Second, in assessing a legislature’s work, we start with a presumption that the legislature acted in good faith”
Democrat President Joe Biden blasted the court’s ruling as part of a “dangerous” attack on voting rights, echoing warnings from the court’s liberal wing.
In a statement, Biden said:
“This decision threatens South Carolinians’ ability to have their voices heard at the ballot box, and the districting plan the Court upheld is part of a dangerous pattern of racial gerrymandering efforts from Republican elected officials to dilute the will of black voters.”
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