The U-S Supreme Court heard arguments today on whether Louisiana’s Congressional map is constitutional. The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office defended the map approved in 2024 that features two Black majority districts for the first time. Solicitor General Ben Aguinaga says they were told by federal judges a second majority Black district is needed in Louisiana.
“We’re duty bound to comply with the Voting Rights Act and when a district court and a panel of the 5th Circuit (Court of Appeals) that the Voting Rights Act likely requires you to adopt a second majority Black district, we are going to do that,” Aguinaga said.
The Louisiana Legislature made the sixth district a second majority-minority district, because roughly a third of the state’s voting population is Black, therefore two of the six Congressional districts should be represented by minorities.
The newly drawn sixth Congressional district stretches from Baton Rouge to Shreveport in order to satisfy a court order that a second Black district is needed in Louisiana. But plaintiffs’ attorney Edward Greim says the Constitution also says you can not draw a district with race as the primary factor.
Shreveport Senator Alan Seabaugh agrees with the plaintiffs.
“The legislative record is clear we drew it to achieve the goal of having a second majority African American district that in of itself is a violation of the Constitution,” Seabaugh said.
Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to agree.
“It runs from one side of the state angling up to the other, picking up black populations as it goes along,” Roberts said.
The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office defended the map, saying they were told by federal judges the state needed a second Black majority district in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act, so this is what they came up with. Justice Elena Kagan took the state’s side.
“If the state can’t do that, the state has no breathing room,” Kagan said.
A decision by the Supreme Court is expected by the end of June.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill hopes the ruling will help states comply with the Voting Rights Act, while also not violating the 14th Amendment’s ban on drawing districts based on race.
“We are hoping that the end of this process that the Supreme Court will issue an opinion that actually gives more guidance to legislatures on how to do their jobs,” Murrill said.
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