Democracy Dies in Darkness

Federal judges strike down La. congressional map with second Black-majority district

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Updated April 30, 2024 at 9:33 p.m. EDT|Published April 30, 2024 at 7:45 p.m. EDT
Louisiana state Sen. Cleo Fields (D), who served in Congress in the 1990s, has declared his candidacy for a new majority-Black congressional district created in January by the Legislature. The new map, which greatly alters the district currently represented by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, was rejected by a federal three-judge panel on Tuesday. (Gerald Herbert/AP)
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A federal three-judge panel on Tuesday threw out Louisiana’s recently redrawn congressional map that included an additional majority-Black district, leaving the state without a settled congressional map some six months before the November elections.

The ruling is the latest in a broader set of legal challenges to electoral maps across the South. The outcome of these suits is likely to play a crucial role in deciding which party controls the House next year. The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon in a South Carolina case and could get involved in the Louisiana case.