BATON ROUGE, La. – A problem to Louisiana’s newly drawn congressional maps opened Monday in federal courtroom, with a coalition of civil rights teams hoping judges will ultimately do what legislators would not: create a second majority-Black district.
Louisiana has six congressional districts, and the plaintiffs say the Legislature illegally diluted the voting energy of Black residents by leaving the state with only one Black-majority district though two out of each six residents of Louisiana is Black.
The plaintiffs need U.S. District Decide Shelly Dick to grant a preliminary injunction that will toss the brand new maps in favor of a special set of maps ready by plaintiff professional Anthony Fairfax that will improve the variety of majority-Black congressional districts from one to 2.
Dick’s ruling, no matter it’s, is more likely to be appealed.
The brand new congressional maps, if preserved, take impact with the Nov. 8 elections, for which qualifying happens July 20-22. Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed these congressional maps, labeling them an egregious violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, solely to have the Legislature override his veto on March 30.
Learn extra on the enchantment of the redistricting plan from our information accomplice The Advocate.