Now we turn to the courts

When legislatures demand congressional district designs which do not reflect the voting trends of the state, it is left to the judiciary to rectify those Gerrymanders. Ironically, and most recently, Republicans were the injured party in Maryland when a Democratic legislature overrode GOP Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto, seeking to protect the sole Republican congressional seat in his state. This, despite the fact that 40 percent of Maryland votes consistently Republican in presidential elections. The courts stepped in, calling Democratic legislature’s design a constitutional violation of the “Free Election Clause of the Maryland Declaration of Rights,” and compelled the legislature to submit a new map last Wednesday. Our editors hope the same judicial initiative will be taken here in Louisiana. After all, the Pelican State’s 1974 Constitution contains a pretty strong declaration of rights too, and the Federal Voting Rights Act possesses pretty specific language on the issue of disenfranchisement.

If the courts do not act, however, the override of Gov. John Bell Edwards vetoes on HB1 and SB5 will set into law an electoral travesty. Forty percent of the population of Louisiana consistently votes for the Democratic candidate for president, and over a third of the electorate are African American. Nevertheless, five out of the six congressional seats in Louisiana are drawn so that only a Republican could win them, and only one is constructed to where an African American could credibly achieve victory. At least two should provide that possibility.

However, the Legislature last Wednesday declined to agree with Edwards’ contention. A 2/3 majority refused the invitation to assemble enough Black voters in another congressional district to make that feasible. The 72-31 House vote broke down on party lines, with all three independents and one Democrat (Rep. Francis Thompson) joining the entire GOP delegation in voting to override the governor’s veto. In the Louisiana Senate, the 27-11 vote fell strictly along party lines with all Republicans voting to override and all Democrats voting in opposition.

Now Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish will rule upon the controversy. On March 15, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Louisiana, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP filed a lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s congressional map. Filed on behalf of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and individuals Dorothy Nairne, E. René Soulé, Alice Washington and Clee Ernest Lowe, the lawsuit alleges that the congressional redistricting plan passed by the Louisiana State Legislature leaves in place a decade old map that, because of shifts in the state’s population, now violates the United States Constitution.

Their brief cites how Gov. Edwards vetoed the plan passed by the legislature because HB1 violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) and dilutes the votes of Black Louisianans. During the redistricting session, the groups submitted several maps for lawmakers to consider that would comply with the VRA by adding a second majority-Black district and urged them against passing a map that did not meet this requirement.

The Plaintiffs contend that unless the 19th JDC acts, the 2022 congressional elections will be held under a plan that has not been updated to reflect population shifts since 2011.

“Louisiana lawmakers ignored their own constituents’ demands for a fair map,” said LDF Redistricting Counsel Kathryn Sadasivan. “They ignored their clear obligation to add a second majority-Black district, and the governor rightfully vetoed their map. Now we are in a situation where we have a 10-year-old map with districts that are way out of balance. That needs to be fixed, and the resulting map must be fair. It is high time that Black voters are accurately represented in Louisiana’s congressional map. We look forward to helping make that happen.”

This article originally published in the April 4, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.