Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill
A federal appeals court panel has affirmed a lower court opinion that found Louisiana’s state legislative maps violated the Voting Rights Act by “packing” and “cracking” Black voters into districts that illegally dilute their voting power.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel issued the decision on Aug. 14 in the Nairne v. Landry case, affirming a district court’s finding that the boundaries of state Senate and House of Representatives districts illegally divided Black communities to deprive them of forming effective voting blocks or packed them into a minimal number of districts.
State officials who intervened in the lawsuit – state Attorney General Liz Murrill and state legislative leaders – argued that race-focused legal remedies and Congress’ ability to impose amendments to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had expired. Also supporting the legality of the current legislative maps is the fact that the state now has more majority-Black districts than in 2011. In addition, the number of minority legislators has never been higher, according to the intervenors.
“We strongly disagree with the Fifth Circuit panel’s decision,” Murrill said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “We are reviewing our options with a focus on stability in our elections and preserving state and judicial resources while the Supreme Court resolves related issues.”
In its next session, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a related challenge to Louisiana’s congressional redistricting map on Oct. 15.
In the wake of the Fifth Circuit Court’s ruling, another judge on the court issued an order saying the court’s mandate was placed on hold. The federal court in the Middle District of Louisiana has also stated that efforts to draw up new Louisiana legislative districts cannot continue until the U.S. Supreme Court completes its review of the Louisiana v. Callais case involving the state’s congressional districts.
In the Fifth Circuit panel’s ruling, judges concluded that the state had provided no evidence that voting issues have changed since the 2023 Allen v. Milligan U.S. Supreme Court decision, which reaffirmed that “race-based redistricting” is a valid remedy when redistricting maps violate the Voting Rights Act.
“The state’s assertion that Congress must periodically re-justify legislation passed under the Reconstruction Amendments finds no support in the constitutional text or caselaw,” the opinion states.
The court stressed that no other federal circuit has rejected the constitutionality of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in terms of how that provision determines the diminution of voting rights.
“We decline the state’s invitation to both eschew a clear mandate from the Supreme Court and disregard Congress’s intent in order to grant Louisiana an exemption from ‘the permanent, nationwide ban on racial discrimination in voting found in section 2,’” the court’s opinion says.
Sara Rohani, assistant counsel at the Legal Defense Fund and part of the legal team representing the plaintiffs, said the ruling was a win for those who have fought for fair representation in Louisiana.
“Fair representation is not optional in Louisiana,” Rohani said in a prepared statement. “(The) decision reaffirms that the state must pass fair and nondiscriminatory maps to comply with the Voting Rights Act. We look forward to rectifying another example of Louisiana’s long history of racial voter suppression.”
