Louisiana won’t immediately get a new majority-Black House district after judges reject it

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A new congressional map giving Louisiana a second majority-Black House district was rejected Tuesday by a panel of three federal judges, fueling new uncertainty about district boundaries as the state prepares for fall congressional elections.

The 2-1 ruling forbids the use of a map drawn up in January by the Legislature after a different federal judge blocked a map from 2022. The earlier map maintained a single Black-majority district and five mostly white districts, in a state with a population that is about one-third Black.

“We will of course be seeking Supreme Court review,” state Attorney General Liz Murrill said on social media. “The jurisprudence and litigation involving redistricting has made it impossible to not have federal judges drawing maps. It’s not right and they need to fix it.”

Gov. Jeff Landry and Murrill had backed the new map in a January legislative session after a different federal judge threw out a map with only one mostly Black district.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, chaired by former Attorney General Eric Holder, said backers of the new map will likely seek an emergency order from the Supreme Court to keep the new map in place while appeals are pursued.

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