Louisiana voters challenge state's new congressional maps

A group of 12 Louisiana voters have challenged the state's new slate of congressional district maps, contending that the inclusion of a second black-majority district was unconstitutional.

The state's district maps have faced legal scrutiny for years. In 2022, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards, D, vetoed maps with a single black-majority district, but was overridden by the legislature. Legal scrutiny ultimately led to a court-ordered redrawing that featured a second black-majority district. GOP Gov. Jeff Landry approved the slate in January.

The current maps face challenge from a group of non-black voters who assert that the state's deliberate consideration of race in drawing the district lines is illegal, The Hill reported.

"The State has engaged in explicit, racial segregation of voters and intentional discrimination against voters based on race," the suit reads.

Two judges from the Western District of Louisiana and one from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the case. The plaintiffs pointed to the 14th and 15th Amendments in making their arguments.

"While Plaintiffs recognize that no group of voters is entitled to proportional representation under the U.S. Constitution and the application of traditional race-neutral criteria may result in an underrepresentation or overrepresentation of racial, religious, or political groups, the Constitution clearly protects all racial groups from representational schemes which have as their sole purpose the intentional overrepresentation of voters of a particular race over all other voters in a jurisdiction," they contended.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.