Louisiana granted extra time to draw new congressional map that complies with Voting Rights Act

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana lawmakers now have until the end of January to draw and pass new congressional boundaries to replace a current map that a federal judge says violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of the state's Black voters.

However, a number of questions still linger — including if and when the Republican Party-dominated legislature will return to the Capitol and, most importantly, whether lawmakers will be able to agree on a map.

Baton Rouge-based U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick issued a two-week extension Thursday afternoon, giving lawmakers additional time to draw up a congressional map, the American Civil Liberties Union confirmed to The Associated Press. The new deadline for redistricting is January 30.

The ACLU represents the plaintiffs.

Outgoing Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has no plans to recall lawmakers to Baton Rouge to draw a new map, spokesman Eric Holl said Sunday. However, the extension will give newly elected Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, the chance to call a special redistricting session after he is inaugurated on January 8 – which he previously promised to do.

In addition, the outgoing President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives have the power to call a special session with the support of a majority of lawmakers. However, chamber leaders have shown little interest and say it may be better to pass the job to new lawmakers, The Advocate reported.

Louisiana is among a list of states still wrangling over congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that Alabama had violated the Voting Rights Act.

The current Republican Party-drawn map of Louisiana, which was used in November's congressional elections, has white majorities in five of six counties — despite Black people making up a third of the state's population.

Democrats argue the map discriminates against black voters and that there should be two majority-minority districts. Republicans say the map is fair and argue that the state's black populations are too spread out to be united into a second-majority black district.

Currently, five of the six districts are held by Republicans. Another predominantly black district could give Democrats a second congressional seat.

The political tug-of-war and legal battle over the congressional map has been going on for more than a year and a half — with Edwards vetoing the political boundaries and the Legislature overriding his veto — their first override of a governor's veto in almost three decades.

In June 2022, Dick removed Louisiana's map for violating the Voting Rights Act. Dick said in her ruling that “the evidence of Louisiana's long and ongoing history of voting-related discrimination weighs heavily in plaintiffs' favor.” Dick, appointed by Barack Obama, ordered the map to be redrawn to include a district with a second majority of black people before it was sent to a federal appeals court in New Orleans.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District set the deadline for completing the new map as January 15. In the court order, they gave Dick the discretion to grant “limited additional time” if requested.

Although Landry promised earlier this month to convene a special session, the timing would not have worked under the original deadline as Landry will not be inaugurated until January 8 and the session could not have started until seven days later.

If the Legislature does not approve a new map within the extended period, the lower district court will hold a trial and “decide on a plan for the 2024 elections,” according to the higher court order. The trial was scheduled to begin on February 5.