What’s next after federal judges throw out new Louisiana Congressional map?
BATON ROUGE, LA. (BRPROUD) — A panel of three judges agreed to throw out the new Louisiana Congressional district map passed by the legislature earlier this year, saying it is racially gerrymandered.
The map created a second majority-minority district that stretched from Baton Rouge to Shreveport. Lawmakers who carried the map in the special session said it was drawn based on political reasons to protect Majority Leader Steve Scalise, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. It also was debated if it was used to target Rep. Garret Graves who had made a series of political decisions that upset some members of his own party.
While the map met the requirements of the Middle District Court that said a second Black district needed to be drawn, the panel of two Trump appointees and one Clinton appointee said it did not meet the Equal Protection Clause.
“As Attorney General, we defended the map passed by the legislature in 2022, as Governor we followed the Federal Courts’ order mandating us to draw a second majority/minority district. The constant inconsistency of the Federal Courts is remarkable and disappointing. The people of Louisiana deserve better from our Federal Courts. Either the Legislature is in control of drawing a map or Federal Courts are, but they both can’t be!” Gov. Jeff Landry said in a statement.
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Leaders in the case over the last three years for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund said they were never in support of the map, their main focus was getting a second majority-minority district in place.
“The court never even got close to addressing the issue of whether Louisiana should have two majority Black districts. I think that’s been resolved. That’s been settled. That is understood by all parties to the case,” said Jared Evans, policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
What happens next?
The Secretary of State said a new map needs to be put in place by Wednesday, May 15 to give adequate time to prepare the map for the fall congressional election. Who will create that map or if the current map will be sent to a higher court will be discussed at a status conference in Shreveport on Monday, May 6.
There is a possibility a map will be put in place for the election and litigation will pick back up again in 2026, as seen in Alabama.
State Sen. Cleo Fields, a former congressman, had already announced he would be running for the newly drawn district. He said he was not discouraged by this latest update and knew it would be a fight.
“Let the Supreme Court decide whether or not what we did was a racial gerrymander or not. And if they choose that to take the position that it was, then they need to give us not directions, give us a plan,” Fields said.
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The status hearing will have the clearest update on the next steps. There is already talk of whether there is enough time for the map to be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court could also have a special master draw a new map or a map submitted by the plaintiffs could be selected. The Middle District dismissed the case after the new map was passed by the legislature this year so Judge Shelly Dick is out of the equation.
The hearing on the next steps is set for Monday.
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