In a two-sentence opinion, a federal appeals court has shot down a bid by attorneys for Louisiana’s Republican legislative leaders, attorney general and secretary of state to reconsider the need for the state to have two Black-majority congressional districts.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Dec. 15 to deny a petition filed by Louisiana state officials that asked for the full court to reconsider whether the Voting Rights Act (VRA) provides an avenue for private groups to file lawsuits under Section 2 of the act. In addition, the state officials argued that a previous decision by a three-justice Fifth Circuit panel erred in saying the state’s “current needs” justify a second racially based district.
The federal lawsuit was brought by plaintiffs including the Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU of Louisiana. They argued that the current configuration of having a single Black-majority congressional district out of Louisiana’s six districts diminishes the voting power of Black Louisianans, who make up nearly one-third of the electorate.
“Treating the petition for rehearing en banc as a petition for panel rehearing … the petition for panel rehearing is denied,” the appeals court said. “Because no member of the panel or judge in regular active service requested that the court be polled on rehearing en banc … the petition for rehearing en banc is denied.”
The Fifth District panel concluded that the VRA contains an implied right of action allowing private groups to enforce certain provisions. But Louisiana Republican officials noted that only 10 days after that panel’s decision, the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the VRA contains no right of private action to enforce Section 2, which prohibits discriminatory voting practices.
“The result of the circuit split is an untenable scenario where a VRA claim by private litigants can proceed in Louisiana but not in neighboring Arkansas,” the state officials’ petition for rehearing states.
Jared Evans, senior policy counsel for the Legal Defense Fund, called the Fifth Circuit decision a win for Black voters in Louisiana.
“We go into the new year confident that we will have a congressional map with two majority-Black districts in place for the presidential election next fall,” Evans said in an email to the Louisiana Record.
He said the plaintiffs are eager to see how state legislators might restructure the congressional map during an anticipated special legislative session in January.
“With respect to what lawmakers will do, they have represented to the court that they need additional time to pass a map, so we certainly take them at their word and look forward to seeing what map they come up with,” Evans said.
The Legislative Black Caucus has already put together sample congressional maps which provide for two majority-minority districts that would satisfy provisions of the VRA, he said.
In their petition to the Fifth Circuit, state officials also questioned whether race-based action is required under current demographic conditions in Louisiana.
“Put simply, if the VRA did not require a second majority-minority district after the 1990, 2000 and 2010 Censuses, it cannot do so now given the decrease in racial polarization in voting over that time,” the petition says. “But that is precisely what the panel ratified.”