A lawsuit seeks to block Louisiana’s new congressional map that has 2nd mostly Black district

A lawsuit has been filed in federal court in Monroe seeking to overturn Louisiana’s new congressional map that creates a second majority Black district.

Twelve plaintiffs contend the map passed by the Republican dominated Legislature and signed into law last week by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is unconstitutional because they allege lawmakers drew the boundaries solely based on race.

The lawsuit will be heard by a three-judge panel, including one 5th Circuit Court of Appeal judge and two Western District judges. They will likely be appointed Thursday.

“Here, the State has engaged in explicit, racial segregation of voters and intentional discrimination against voters based on race,” the plaintiffs said. “The State has drawn lines between neighbors and divided communities. In most cases, the lines separate African American and non-African American voters from their communities and assign them to Districts with dominating populations far away.”

The lawsuit, filed in Louisiana’s Western District U.S. Court Wednesday, is the latest litigation challenging the state’s congressional boundaries.

Late last year a federal appeals court upheld Baton Rouge Middle District Judge Shelly Dick’s earlier ruling requiring Louisiana’s congressional map be redrawn to include a second majority Black district out of six to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

State lawmakers, led by Republican super majorities in the House and Senate, previously failed to comply with Dick’s order that will likely cost Republicans a seat in Congress, but Landry urged lawmakers to draw a new map so the new boundaries wouldn’t be left up to Dick.

“We took the pen out of the hand of a non-elected judge and placed it in the hands of the people,” Landry said after legislators passed Senate Bill 8 by Republican Harrisonburg Sen. Glen Womack.

Proposed new Louisiana Congressional map that would add a second majority Black district by radically changing the 6th Congressional District boundaries.

Lawmakers dismantled Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves’ 6th Congressional District to create the new majority Black district that includes parts of Shreveport, Acadiana, Alexandria and Baton Rouge as the population centers, putting Graves’ political future in danger.

Graves told USA Today Network last week that he believes the map is unconstitutional and won’t stand up to a court challenge.

“I don’t see any scenario where this map holds,” Graves said. “They solely took race into consideration, which you can’t do.”

Those who led the two-year legal effort to force the state to add a second Black district have hailed the new map as historic. They are expected to sign off on the new map when they meet with Dick next week.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times