Court tosses map that created second Black House district in Louisiana

A panel of federal judges has tossed out Louisiana's new congressional map, striking the state’s second majority-Black district just months after it was signed into law.

The ruling, if it stands, could be a win for Republicans, since Democrats were almost certain to win the newly drawn district.

Louisiana’s congressional lines have been bogged down in a long-running legal battle. A federal court found in the summer of 2022 that the map Louisiana Republicans drew after the 2020 Census likely violated the Voting Rights Act because it diluted the power of Black Louisianians. The Supreme Court, however, allowed that map to be used for the 2022 midterms, and it saw five white Republicans and one Black Democrat elected in a state where Black residents made up roughly a third of the population.

But ultimately, the Supreme Court restored that lower court’s decision, and the state had to redraw its map to give Black voters more power. The GOP-dominated state legislature compiled, drawing a second majority-Black district in January that snakes from northwest Louisiana all the way down to East Baton Rouge.

The new map carved up GOP Rep. Garrett Graves’ seat to create a district in which 56 percent of residents were Black. It would have also partially offset an efficient Republican partisan gerrymander in North Carolina, where the GOP basically automatically netted three seats for 2024 in mid-decade redistricting.

But a group of self-identified “non-Black voters” quickly filed suit challenging this new map in Louisiana, alleging that the new map was itself an impermissible racial gerrymander.

A divided panel of federal judges agreed on Tuesday. District Judges David C. Joseph and Robert R. Summerhays — both appointees of former President Donald Trump — tossed the new district, saying that race played a “predominate role” when drawing the lines.

“The State first made the decision to create a majority-Black district and, only then, did political considerations factor into the State’s creation of District 6,” the majority opinion read. “The predominate role of race in the State’s decisions is reflected in the statements of legislative decision-makers, the division of cities and parishes along racial lines, the unusual shape of the district, and the evidence that the contours of the district were drawn to absorb sufficient numbers of Black-majority neighborhoods to achieve the goal of a functioning majority-Black district.”

Circuit Court Judge Carl E. Stewart, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, dissented, writing that there was “no factor predominating over the other” when the lines were drawn, and the map should have been allowed to stand.

The next steps for Louisiana are not immediately clear. The court will hold a hearing on Monday to discuss possible remedies to the violation — although an emergency appeal of the decision up to the Supreme Court is likely.

The filing deadline for candidates to get on the November ballot is in mid-July. Graves had been drawn into the same district with fellow GOP Rep. Julia Letlow but has said he will run in whatever Baton Rouge-based district exists for the next election.

In a statement, Eric Holder — who was attorney general under then-President Barack Obama and is now the chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the party’s main redistricting arm — said the decision puts the Voting Rights Act under threat.

“It is so wildly out of step from settled law and recent Supreme Court precedent that the ideological nature of the decision could not be more clear,” he said. “Louisiana’s current, fair map — which gives Black Louisianians their long denied but rightful voting power — should remain in place for 2024 and for every future election.”