Louisiana May Be Forced to Redraw Congressional Map

Louisiana leaders could be faced with the task of redrawing Congressional district lines after this week's Supreme Court decision in a similar case from Alabama. The nation's high court has ordered Alabama to redraw its congressional map.

The justices found that Alabama concentrated Black voters in one district, while spreading them out among the others to make it much more difficult to elect more than one candidate of their choice. The judges determined that the Black population in Alabama is large enough and geographically compact enough to create a second majority black district. Just one of the seven congressional districts in Alabama is majority Black, in a state where more than one in four residents is Black.

This ruling is likely to have an impact in Louisiana where only one of our 6 Congressional Districts is majority Black while the state's population is about 33% Black.

Urban League of Louisiana Vice President of Policy Tyrone Walker says two of the districts in Louisiana should be majority Black. He is urging Governor John Bel Edwards to call a special session immediately to let lawmakers redraw the lines to be in compliance with this latest Supreme Court ruling.

Slidell Senator Sharon Hewitt, who helped draft the maps told The Advocate ” While she respects the ruling, it’s not a final ruling regarding the congressional maps in Louisiana.”

While it was considering the Alabama case, the Supreme Court put a hold on a lower court ruling in Louisiana which calls for the creation of a second majority-Black district. That hold will probably be lifted now.

Lawmakers in Georgia are also facing a similar situation and the maps in these states will likely have to be redrawn in time for the 2024 elections.