Louisiana v. Callais · ¶102

Louisiana's enactment of SB8 triggered strict scrutiny because the State's underlying goal was racial. The State never hid the ball: It confgured District 6 to achieve a black voting-age population over 50% because it knew that if it failed to do so, the Robinson court would very likely find its map unlawful and order the use of something like the Robin son plaintiffs' illustrative maps, which would have imperiled one of the infuential incumbents the legislature sought to protect. The State's intentional compliance with the court's demands constituted an “express acknowledgment that race played a role in the drawing of district lines.” Alexander, 602 U. S., at 8. Louisiana therefore had to satisfy the “extraordinarily onerous” standard of proving that its use of race was narrowly tailored to further a compelling governmental interest. Id., at 11.

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