The parties in a federal lawsuit challenging the Louisiana Legislature’s approval of a congressional redistricting map concluded their oral arguments last week, leaving Judge Shelly Dick to decide if the plan illegally dilutes the power of Black voters.
In March, several voting rights groups, including the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice and the ACLU of Louisiana, sued Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin to block the enforcement of the congressional map. The plaintiffs argued in the Middle District of Louisiana court that the map approved by state lawmakers over the veto of Gov. John Bel Edwards violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The plaintiffs argue that the state’s current voting-age population is about one-third Black, but the approved congressional map only contains one out six districts (16.7%) that has a Black majority. Historically, candidates supported by Black voters have been defeated in the other five congressional districts, the plaintiffs say.
“From the very beginning of this cycle, we were clear that any map passed by the Legislature that did not have two majority-minority districts would likely violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act,” Jared Evans, policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told the Louisiana Record in an email. “We are confident that the court will look at the legislative record, the debate in committee, the debate on the floor and strike this map down as racially discriminatory.”
Republican lawmakers have argued that creating two Black majority congressional districts would dilute Black voting strength in the existing Black majority district and that the approved map meets criteria spelled out in state and federal law.
Sentiments expressed by the public during the Legislature’s redistricting session and an information-gathering roadshow showed strong support for a second majority-minority congressional district, Evans said.
“We are confident that the court will take all of that into consideration and rule in favor of Black voters across this state, who, as the record shows, are still suffering under the legacy of the Confederacy, Jim Crow and Louisiana’s long and well-documented history of racial discrimination against Black people participating in the political process,” he said.