"Drawing districts for political reasons is the States' prerogative, not a federal civil rights violation."
minute read
After a Supreme Court ruling determining that it is unconstitutional to use race in redistricting, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced that he is suspending Louisian'a closed party primary elections "only for offices of US Representative in response to the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais."
"The ruling issued on April 29 found Louisiana’s current congressional district map," said the governor's office in a release, "enacted under SB 8 during the 2024 First Extraordinary Session, to be an unconstitutional gerrymander. The decision effectively reinstates a lower court injunction prohibiting the state from conducting congressional elections under the invalidated map."
"The best way to end race-based discrimination is to stop making decisions based on race," Landry said. "Here in Louisiana, we’re proud to lead the nation on this charge. Allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of our system and violate the rights of our voters. This executive order ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map. I would like to thank Attorney General Liz Murrill for her hard work throughout this process."
Landry signed an executive order to that effect. "This executive order follows certification from the Louisiana Secretary of State that an electoral emergency exists, as provided under R.S. 18:401.1. The statute authorizes the governor to suspend or delay elections to protect voter safety, participation, and the integrity of the process," said the governor's office in a release.
It had prevoiusly been reported that he told GOP candidates for the House of Representatives that he intended to suspend the primaries in order to redraw state maps. Landry told candidates this via phone call, per the Washington Post.
This follows a 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais in which the Court determined that Louisiana's redrawing of their congressional maps to create two black-majority districts was unconstitutional because they had made the districts based on race. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion.
In his concurrence, Justice Clarence Thomas said, "This Court should never have interpreted §2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to effectively give racial groups' an entitlement to roughly proportional representation.’"
"By doing so," he added, "the Court led legislatures and courts to 'systematically divid[e] the country into electoral districts along racial lines.' Today’s decision should largely put an end to this 'disastrous misadventure' in voting-rights jurisprudence."
Landry may make the announcement on the suspension of the primaries on Friday, though election ballots were already mailed to absentee voters. The ruling, Landry said, "affirmed what we have said for years: drawing districts for political reasons is the States' prerogative, not a federal civil rights violation." Early voting was set to begin on Saturday.
The fight over redistricting has hit several states, starting with Texas before moving on to California, New York, Florida, and Virgina. Previously, districts were redrawn around every ten years based on census data. However, in the just the past 6 years, populations have moved around the country substantially and millions of illegal immigrants were allowed in, changing the demographic makeup of many states.
When asked about the ruling during a press conference, President Donald Trump said "I love it! This is very good, we can end this news conference right now. I want to read it, wow."
On the matter of whether or not states should go ahead and redistrict now, Trump said, "I would. I mean, it depends. I mean, some states don't need to redraw, and some do. I mean, I know what the concept of the rule—I just haven't seen the result. Yeah. I would say generally I would think that they would want to do it some are greatly helped and some, you know, it didn't make much difference. Yeah. I would say they would do that. They have time to do it."
"The ruling issued on April 29 found Louisiana’s current congressional district map," said the governor's office in a release, "enacted under SB 8 during the 2024 First Extraordinary Session, to be an unconstitutional gerrymander. The decision effectively reinstates a lower court injunction prohibiting the state from conducting congressional elections under the invalidated map."
"The best way to end race-based discrimination is to stop making decisions based on race," Landry said. "Here in Louisiana, we’re proud to lead the nation on this charge. Allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of our system and violate the rights of our voters. This executive order ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map. I would like to thank Attorney General Liz Murrill for her hard work throughout this process."
Landry signed an executive order to that effect. "This executive order follows certification from the Louisiana Secretary of State that an electoral emergency exists, as provided under R.S. 18:401.1. The statute authorizes the governor to suspend or delay elections to protect voter safety, participation, and the integrity of the process," said the governor's office in a release.
It had prevoiusly been reported that he told GOP candidates for the House of Representatives that he intended to suspend the primaries in order to redraw state maps. Landry told candidates this via phone call, per the Washington Post.
This follows a 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais in which the Court determined that Louisiana's redrawing of their congressional maps to create two black-majority districts was unconstitutional because they had made the districts based on race. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion.
In his concurrence, Justice Clarence Thomas said, "This Court should never have interpreted §2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to effectively give racial groups' an entitlement to roughly proportional representation.’"
"By doing so," he added, "the Court led legislatures and courts to 'systematically divid[e] the country into electoral districts along racial lines.' Today’s decision should largely put an end to this 'disastrous misadventure' in voting-rights jurisprudence."
Landry may make the announcement on the suspension of the primaries on Friday, though election ballots were already mailed to absentee voters. The ruling, Landry said, "affirmed what we have said for years: drawing districts for political reasons is the States' prerogative, not a federal civil rights violation." Early voting was set to begin on Saturday.
The fight over redistricting has hit several states, starting with Texas before moving on to California, New York, Florida, and Virgina. Previously, districts were redrawn around every ten years based on census data. However, in the just the past 6 years, populations have moved around the country substantially and millions of illegal immigrants were allowed in, changing the demographic makeup of many states.
When asked about the ruling during a press conference, President Donald Trump said "I love it! This is very good, we can end this news conference right now. I want to read it, wow."
On the matter of whether or not states should go ahead and redistrict now, Trump said, "I would. I mean, it depends. I mean, some states don't need to redraw, and some do. I mean, I know what the concept of the rule—I just haven't seen the result. Yeah. I would say generally I would think that they would want to do it some are greatly helped and some, you know, it didn't make much difference. Yeah. I would say they would do that. They have time to do it."
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