The outlines of a timeline to decide the legality of Louisiana’s congressional district map are coming into focus now that a federal district judge has given state lawmakers until Jan. 30 to produce a new map that’s in sync with provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act.
Judge Shelly Dick of the Middle District of Louisiana outlined a new timetable in a Nov. 27 court document in the wake of a status conference held by the parties in the lawsuit Press Robinson v. Kyle Ardoin et al. The lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs who argue that the Louisiana congressional map drawn up after the 2020 census diminishes the power of Black voters, who now make up nearly one-third of the electorate but have a majority in only one of the state’s six congressional districts.
Ardoin is the state’s secretary of state.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, who leaves office on Jan. 8, does not plan to call a special session of the Legislature so that lawmakers can consider a new map, according to an Associated Press report. But the new governor, Republican Jeff Landry, has issued a news release saying that he will call for a special session to resolve the redistricting issue once he’s sworn in.
If the lawmakers fail to draw up a new map by Jan. 30, the parties will proceed to a trial on the merits of the current map on Feb. 5, according to the district court’s timetable.
“If a new enacted map is produced, exchanged with (the) plaintiff’s counsel and filed in the record on or before Jan. 30 … a trial on the merits shall be held commencing on March 25, 2024, and shall continue daily until complete,” the Nov. 27 court document states.
Last month, a three-member panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Dick that the current congressional map likely violates the Voting Rights Act. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year found that a similar redistricting situation in Alabama also violated federal law.
The executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust told the Louisiana Record that the litigation over Louisiana’s congressional map can be resolved in time for the 2024 elections.
“There is time to enact a new redistricting plan if the state chooses to enact one,” Adam Kincaid said. “But either way, it looks like they're going to go to trial either in February on the existing plan, if they don't pass a new one, or in March on a new plan."
He stressed that there is no mandate on Louisiana’s GOP-dominated Legislature to draw up a new map.
“I think there are a lot of moving pieces obviously, and no one really can tell you with 100% certainty what the outcome is going to be for Louisiana next year," Kincaid said.
The legislative leaders have also filed a petition to have the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals review the status of the congressional map and consider a recent ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that bars private groups from suing under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
It’s still unclear whether the outcome of the litigation will be the imposition of two majority-Black congressional districts, according to Kincaid.
"I think that's an open question,” he said. “I don't think that's settled law. To create two majority-Black districts in Louisiana, you have to divide communities of interest and cut cities along racial lines. You have to do all of the things that are traditionally considered racial gerrymandering. And even then, you're looking at districts that are barely over 50% Black and may not perform in Louisiana given disparate turnout rates and the state’s unique jungle primary system."