Civil rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the Louisiana’s legislature’s proposed Congressional map after lawmakers failed to pass a map that added a second majority-Black district during last month’s special, once-in-a-decade redistricting session.
The map at the center of the suit — which was recently vetoed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards — maintains the status quo of Louisiana’s currently-drawn six Congressional districts, with only one majority-Black district despite a state with a 33% Black population.
“It is high time that Black voters are accurately represented in Louisiana’s congressional map,” NAACP Legal Defense Fund Redistricting Counsel Kathryn Sadasivan said in a statement Tuesday. “Louisiana lawmakers ignored their own constituents’ demands for a fair map. They ignored their clear obligation to add a second majority-Black district, and the governor rightfully vetoed their map.”
The lawsuit, which was filed by NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU of Louisiana and other civil rights organizations in the 19th Judicial Circuit in Baton Rouge, argues that 2020 Census figures show the state’s Black population has grown significantly over the past decade. By not accounting for this shift in population, the lawsuit alleges, the Congressional map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits states from diluting the political power of racial minority groups through the redistricting process.
“Black people in this state have been suffering for decades under gerrymandered, racist maps,” said Louisiana NAACP President Mike McClanahan in a press release. “Our hope is that the courts will restore to us all those years.”
During last month’s redistricting session, Democratic state lawmakers filed several maps that would add a second majority-Black Congressional district, but every proposal that did so was rejected in committee.
Last week, Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the Congressional map by the state legislature, setting up a potential veto override during the current legislative session.
“This map is simply not fair to the people of Louisiana and does not meet the standards set forth in the federal Voting Rights Act,” Edwards said during last week’s veto. “The legislature should immediately begin the work of drawing a map that ensures Black voices can be properly heard in the voting booth. It can be done, and it should be done.”
The lawsuit over the Congressional map follows a similar lawsuit filed Monday by civil rights groups over the recently redrawn maps for state House and Senate districts, with those groups claiming that the state Senate and House maps failed to increase minority representation.
