(C) Common Dreams
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What Redistricting Looks Like In Every State - Louisiana [1]
['Ryan Best', 'Aaron Bycoffe', 'Nathaniel Rakich']
Date: 2021-08-09 06:00:00-04:00
The latest in Louisiana
On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court halted a lower court’s ruling that had struck down Louisiana’s new congressional map on the grounds that it was an illegal racial gerrymander. As a result, in the 2022 elections Louisiana will use the map passed by its Republican-controlled state legislature on Feb. 18, which preserved Louisiana’s old breakdown of five strongly Republican, majority-white seats and one solidly Democratic, majority-Black seat that connects New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
Democrats, including Gov. John Bel Edwards, argued that the plan didn’t meet the standards of the Voting Rights Act because it had only one majority-Black district, even though Louisiana has a population that is about one-third Black and it was quite possible to draw a second Black seat. As a result, Edwards vetoed the map, but the legislature overrode his veto on March 30. Republicans needed a two-thirds majority in both legislative chambers to override, but even with the unanimous support of its caucus, the party would have been two votes short in the House of Representatives. But one Democrat and three independents there joined all 68 Republicans in a 72-31 override vote, and the state Senate followed with a 27-11 party-line vote.
Following the override vote, civil rights groups quickly launched a legal challenge arguing that the map was illegal without two predominantly Black districts. This lawsuit could yet still prevail, but not in time to affect the 2022 election: The Supreme Court put the case on hold until it resolves a similar debate over Alabama’s congressional map, which is expected to happen in 2023.
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[1] Url:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/louisiana/
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