A federal court on Tuesday blocked Louisiana from using a congressional map that signed into law this year that was redrawn to include the second set – Black district.
In a 2-1 vote, the three-judge panel found that Senate Bill 8, which would have redistricted the state’s congressional districts, violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Most likely, the work will be finished earlier Supreme Court in another A test of the Voting Rights Act.
“Having considered the testimony and evidence at trial, the arguments of counsel and the applicable law, we conclude that Section 6 of SB8 violates the Equal Protection Clause,” District Judges Robert R. Summerhays and David C. Joseph, both former judge appointees, said in a statement. are the people who did it. President Donald Trump wrote in court feedback.
The judges said that the state will not use the map in “future elections”.
A hearing was scheduled for May 6 to discuss next steps.
In a statement, Paul Hurd, an attorney for the voters who opposed the map, expressed gratitude “for the Court ruling in favor of the twelve courageous Plaintiffs challenging the new zoning plan.”
Their claim Challenging the redistricting map, the plaintiffs argued that “the State is engaged in peddling race in textbooks” and violated civil rights protections under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments when it drew on a second-majority Black district to enforce a previous court decision.
Louisiana has a secretary of state was appointed on May 15 as a deadline for when the state’s congressional map must be finalized for use in this year’s elections.
The office declined to comment on the ruling Tuesday.
The map was redrawn and signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry in January after a federal court ruled in 2022 that the state Legislature illegally disenfranchised black voters in a previous redistricting plan.
Although Louisiana is about one-third black, five of its six congressional districts are predominantly white.
There will be a new map reduce the voting-age black population Up to 51% in Democratic Rep. Troy Carter’s district, while the new 6th Congressional District is drawn as a narrow strip through the heart of the state from Shreveport to Baton Rouge. The voting-age black population of that district will be 53%.
Carter condemned the decision on Tuesday On Xand urged the Supreme Court to “fix this immediately.”
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Carl E. Stewart pointed to the new map as an effort to address objections to the previous one raised under the Voting Rights Act.
Stewart, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, wrote: “I am concerned that the panel majority’s decision fails to properly appreciate the history that led to SB 8 and ultimately condemns us to repeat this cycle.”
He added that the new map was “narrowly designed to serve a compelling State interest” under the Voting Rights Act’s protections against discriminatory voting practices and procedures.
The outcome of the battle over the Louisiana map could play a role in November, when Republicans will defend their narrow majority in the House of Representatives.