NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Democratic governor of Louisiana said Monday he will convene a Republican-dominated legislature in a special session soon to set new congressional district boundaries, now that a federal judge has blocked the use of maps that only have a majority district: black.
Governor John Bel Edwards announced his plan at a press conference at the Baton Rouge Capitol. He spoke to reporters minutes after the end of the 2022 regular legislative session and hours after U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, also in Baton Rouge, blocked the use of the new maps. His sentence included an order for the Legislature to draft a reparation plan before June 20.
Edwards, whose veto on the maps was overturned by lawmakers earlier this year, said there should be a second black-majority district among the six districts that were approved, noting that the state’s population is nearly a third black.
Edwards said the court order, the Voting Rights Act and “basic equity and basic math” require redrawing the district’s lines.
However, attorneys for Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, the state’s top elected official, quickly filed a notice of appeal on Dick’s order.
Dick’s June 20 deadline to draw new district lines is one month before the Nov. 8 congressional election registration period.
“If the Legislature cannot approve a corrective plan before that date, the Court will issue additional orders to enact a corrective plan that complies with U.S. laws and the Constitution,” the judge wrote.
The district map was drafted in a special session earlier this year during a special legislative session convened to redraw government district lines to take into account population changes shown in the 2020 census. Edwards vetoed the maps, but his veto was lifted. This prompted a lawsuit by voting rights advocates.
Ardoin filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Ultimately, the case could end up in the Supreme Court, which earlier this year suspended a lower court decision that Alabama must draw new districts in Congress before the 2022 election to increase black voting power.
Ardoin’s office declined to comment on the dispute.
By blocking the use of the map pending new elections, Dick said those who filed the lawsuit are likely to prevail with his argument that the new districts are violating the Federal Voting Rights Act. He blocked Ardoin from holding elections with the new map.