MAY 19, 2026

Justice Jackson renews criticism of Supreme Court's handling of Louisiana redistricting appeal

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson spoke at an American Law Institute event in Washington, D.C., on Monday, where she criticized the Supreme Court's decision to waive its usual month-long waiting period before finalizing a May 4 ruling that cleared the way for Louisiana to redraw its congressional maps. Jackson was the only justice to note her dissent from the one-paragraph order, which provided little explanation and did not disclose how the full court voted. The Louisiana case, Louisiana v. Callais, centered on whether the state's 2024 congressional map — which added a second majority-Black district — constituted an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, speaking before the American Law Institute in Washington on Monday night, reiterated her view that the Supreme Court acted too hastily in allowing Louisiana to redraw its congressional maps before the midterm elections. The remarks were delivered in response to questions from U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel about the Court's May 4 decision and the subsequent decision to bypass its standard waiting period.

Jackson said she was not asserting that the Court's decision was itself politically motivated, but expressed concern about how the Court's actions might be perceived. "Courts are apolitical, not supposed to be issuing rulings that are in the political realm," she said. "We have to be scrupulous about sticking to the principles and the rules that we apply in every case and not look as though we're doing something different in this kind of context."

Jackson also described the Court's broader emergency docket practices as a concern, saying the Court was creating "this other lane of adjudication" that she said was not serving the Court, lower courts, or the country. She said the Court's latest move — sending a similar Mississippi redistricting case back to lower courts — added to that pattern.