An appeals court sets a January deadline for a new Louisiana congressional map

A federal appeals court has given the Louisiana legislature until Jan. 15, 2024, to draw a new congressional map after concluding a lower court correctly ruled that the previous map likely violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of the state's Black voters.

It's the latest legal development in a long-running redistricting fight that could help determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives after next year's elections.

The new order by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, released Friday, tosses out a 2022 ruling by a lower court, which the panel noted was "issued with the urgency of establishing a map for the 2022 elections" and is "no longer necessary."

Still, the panel found that the lower court "did not clearly err in its necessary fact-findings nor commit legal error" in finding the map approved by the state's Republican-controlled legislature to be a likely violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Out of that map's six congressional districts, there is only one where Black Louisianans — who make up close to a third of the state's population — have a realistic opportunity to elect their preferred candidate. That candidate would likely be a Democrat because of how racially polarized voting is in the southern state.

The appeals court panel's ruling notes that if the state legislature does not pass a new map by mid-January, the lower court should move ahead to a trial in order to finalize a map in time for the 2024 elections. The panel says the court could give "limited additional time" to lawmakers. Any major delays could risk not having a redistricting plan in place by late May, when the state has said it needs a final map to prepare for elections.

After the ruling's release, Louisiana Gov.-elect Jeff Landry, a Republican, said he plans to call a special session as governor.

"Redistricting is a state legislative function. Based on today's ruling, I will call for a special session so our Legislature may resolve this issue," Landry said in an emailed statement.

But Landry is not set to be inaugurated until Jan. 8. And if he calls a special session on his inauguration day, Louisiana's state constitution does not allow the session to start until seven days later, which would be the Jan. 15 deadline.

The state's outgoing Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, could call a session before leaving office. Edwards, however, has not said what his plans are, issuing instead a statement on Friday that said Louisiana "can and should have a congressional map that represents our voting population, which is one-third Black."

"This is about simple math, basic fairness, and the rule of law," Edwards added. "With the 5th Circuit's action today, I remain confident that we will have a fair map with two majority Black districts before the congressional elections next year."

The U.S. Supreme Court was recently asked to review a separate 5th Circuit panel's ruling that canceled a hearing about redrawing the map. The court denied an emergency request to revive that hearing and speed up the redrawing process.

This case is one of several in the South where Republican state officials are trying to argue that the Voting Rights Act's Section 2 is no longer constitutional. Section 2 is a key remaining part of the landmark law after Supreme Court rulings weakened many of its provisions over the past decade. The effort against Section 2 is trying to push federal courts to reinterpret long-standing legal protections against racial discrimination in redistricting.

In a similar congressional redistricting case out of Alabama, however, the Supreme Court ruled in June to uphold its past rulings on Section 2 and allowed a lower court to put in place a map with two opportunity districts for Black voters.

WNNO and WRKF reporter Molly Ryan contributed to this report.

Edited by Benjamin Swasey

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