Federal judges give Louisiana lawmakers until June 3 to create suitable new congressional map

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Louisiana lawmakers have less than a month to come up with a new congressional map or a panel of judges will draw it for them.

That mandate comes from a three-person panel of federal appellate judges who threw out the legislature’s newest map just last week.

Time is short because district lines need to be set in time for fall congressional elections.

The panel of judges gave state lawmakers until June 3 to present an acceptable congressional map, or have one imposed on them instead.

The panel last week rejected a map passed during a January special legislative session, which would have created Louisiana’s second Black-majority district. The panel found by a 2-1 vote that race was the predominant factor in that map’s boundaries, which the judges said violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Meanwhile, the judges will be making their own remedial plan, in case the lawmakers fail to act in time.

A spokesperson for Secretary of State Nancy Landry, however, said the June 3 deadline is too lax. The office said May 15 is its hard deadline to implement a map for the November election ballots.

Attorney General Liz Murrill said the state is appealing to the US Supreme Court to have the rejected map reinstated.

“Today, three federal judges who never spent a day running an election have ignored uncontradicted testimony that we need a map by May 15, and once again turned Louisiana’s congressional elections upside down,” Murrill said in a statement released Tuesday. “That’s on the tails of another federal judge, the 5th Circuit, and the Supreme Court doing it in the last round of congressional elections.

“At a time when concerns about election integrity are higher than ever, this ruling threatens the ability of the Secretary of State to conduct a stable and fair election in a presidential election year in Louisiana. We will be heading this week to the US Supreme Court.”

Davante Lewis, the Public Service Commissioner for the 3rd district of Louisiana, said Murrill’s statement is nonsensical and accused the AG of using bombastic language.

Lewis said the court gave the secretary of state and the state an opportunity Monday night to file briefs explaining their concerns about moving the deadline past the original date of May 15. However, he said the judges felt their testimony was not compelling, because both had mentioned in other cases they could have a map as late as May or early June.

Lewis said Louisiana will have a map in place before November. But what that map looks like is still up in the air.

“Everyone wants a map that is fair and just to the people of Louisiana, that adequately represents the population and gives every Louisianan the opportunity to have a member of congress of their choosing,” Lewis said.

“How you get there varies. There are multiple ways you can get there. I think what we have to do at this moment is keep our eyes on the prize that a fair map is needed. And, whatever the courts do, that they ensure that all Louisianans are fairly represented and that this legal strategy and legal confusion does not end in another election of people not having their voices adequately represented in Washington DC.”

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