BATON ROUGE, La. (NEWSnet/AP) — Louisiana lawmakers have until the end of January 2024 to draw and approve new congressional boundaries.

A federal judge said the current map violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of the state’s Black voters.

On Nov. 30, Baton Rouge-based U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick issued a two-week extension, giving lawmakers extra time to construct a congressional map,American Civil Liberties Union confirmed to The Associated Press. The new redistricting deadline is Jan. 30.

ACLU is representing the plaintiffs.

Outgoing Gov. John Bel Edwards does not plan to call-back lawmakers back to Baton Rouge to draw a new map, spokesperson Eric Holl said Sunday. However, the extension will give incoming Governor-elect Jeff Landry the chance to call a special redistricting session after being inaugurated Jan. 8. He previously vowed to do so.

In addition, the outgoing Senate president and House speaker have the power to convene a special session with support of a majority of legislators. However, chamber leaders have shown little interest, saying it may be better to pass the job to incoming lawmakers, The Advocate reported.

Louisiana’s current GOP-drawn map, which was used in the November congressional election, has white majorities in five of six districts, despite Black people accounting for one-third of the state’s population.

 

Democrats arguethe map discriminates against Black voters and that there should be two majority-minority districts. Republicans say the map is fair and argue that Black populations in the state are too dispersed to be united into a second majority Black district.

Currently, five of the six districts are held by Republicans. Another mostly Black district could deliver a second congressional seat to Democrats.

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