Speaker Mike Johnson urges Louisiana to ignore court order to create Black district

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Benton is urging the Louisiana Legislature and GOP Gov. Jeff Landry to ignore a court order to draw a second majority Black congressional district because he wants to protect Republicans' razor thin majority in the House.

Johnson, Louisiana's first U.S. House speaker, tweeted from his campaign account on X as the Legislature was set to begin debate Tuesday on a proposed map that would create a second majority Black that takes in Shreveport and Alexandria with Baton Rouge.

Johnson said the Legislature should not voluntarily create a second majority Black district that would likely result in a Democrat being elected. Louisiana currently has five Republican members of the House and one Democrat.

"We’ve just seen, and are very concerned with, the proposed Congressional map presented in the Louisiana Legislature," Johnson posted. "It remains my position that the existing map is constitutional and that the legal challenge to it should be tried on merits so the State has adequate opportunity to defend its merits.

"Should the state not prevail at trial, there are multiple other map options that are legally compliant and do not require the unnecessary surrender of a Republican seat in Congress."

But Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill quickly responded with her own post to give cover to Landry, her former boss, and the Republican-dominated Legislature.

"As lead counsel for the past year on this matter in the courts of appeal, I agree with the Governor that we have exhausted all reasonable and meaningful avenues for legal remedies available to us," Murrill said. "Now, we have a federal judge (Shelly Dick) holding her pen in one hand and a gun to our head in the other.

"Letting her keep hold of the pen will undoubtedly result in more crushing policies that hurt our families and strengthen the Left’s toehold in Louisiana. The Governor marched through these redistricting fights with me and understands this. The State should always be entitled to have a trial on the merits before the Legislature is required to re-write a law. But Judge Dick, the Fifth Circuit, and the US Supreme Court did not agree."

Last November, a federal appeals court upheld Dick's earlier ruling requiring Louisiana's congressional map be redrawn to include a second majority Black district out of six. Passage requires majority votes in the state House and Senate.

Republican Harrisonburg Sen. Glen Womack's Senate Bill 8, the map backed by Landry, would radically change the current 6th Congressional District boundaries and put current Republican Congressman Garret Graves' political career in peril.

Womack said he drew the map to protect Louisiana's unprecedented congressional muscle with Johnson as speaker and Metairie Congressman Steve Scalise as majority leader as well as his own representative Congresswoman Julia Letlow.

Republican Acadiana Congressman Clay Higgins is protected by geography.

"Politics drove this map," Womack said.

But despite leaving Johnson with a safe seat, the speaker is wary of diminishing the Republican majority in the House, which stands at 220-213.

Even so, Higgins posted a tweet that backs Landry's charge to the Legislature to draw a new map instead of leaving it in the hands of Dick.

"The Federal courts have mandated that Louisiana pass a new map this week or a liberal Federal Judge will draw one.," Higgins tweeted. "I continue to support and have confidence in the Governor and the state legislature. The map Senator Womack has proposed is ugly, but it’s what’s best for Louisiana under these circumstances."

The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs advanced Womack's Senate Bill 8 to the full Senate without objection late Tuesday.

More: Proposed Louisiana congressional map takes in Shreveport for second majority Black district

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.

This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Speaker Mike Johnson says new Louisiana map threatens GOP House majority