Whether a plaintiff's Equal Protection Clause racial gerrymandering claim is rendered moot when the challenged legislative district is replaced in a different proceeding by a judicial remedy that intensifies the plaintiff's racial classification injury, and which is subject to ongoing appellate review

Petitioner Benancio Garcia III challenged Washington State ’s Legislative District 15 as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The three -judge district court panel dismissed his claim as moot after a single -judge district court in a different case, Soto Palmer v. Hobbs , No. 3:22 -cv-05035 (W.D. Wash.), enjoined the use of the map that created Legislative District 15 and ordered the State to draw a replacement district. This Court vacated and remanded with instructions to enter a fresh judgment from which an appeal may be taken to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The threejudge Panel amended its judgment accordingly, and Petitioner appealed. The Ninth Cir cuit affirmed. The question presented is: Whether a plaintiff ’s Equal Protection Clause racial gerrymandering claim is rendered moot when the challenged legislative district is replaced in a different proceeding by a judicial remedy that intensifies the plaintiff ’s racial classification injury, and which is subject to ongoing appellate review.