NEW ORLEANS — A federal lawsuit filed in Baton Rouge alleges the districts used to elect members of the Louisiana Supreme Court violate the Voting Rights Act.
Five justices sent a letter to Gov. Jeff Landry and House and Senate leaders, urging lawmakers to carve out a new African American majority district.
While Louisiana's population is nearly 33 percent Black, currently the court has just one Black district out of seven.
That district is located in the New Orleans area.
“You want to make sure that 33 percent of your population is not represented by just one justice in the state of Louisiana,” Tracie Washington, a civil rights attorney with the LA Justice Institute said. “That’s not fair.”
Supreme Court redistricting is now on the docket for the upcoming special legislative session.
Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington says while lawmakers are redrawing Congressional boundaries, it’s a good time to fix Supreme Court districts as well.
“We’re all trying to follow the guidelines of the voting rights act and again, it’s very similar to what we’re doing with the Congressional federal order and we’re trying the same thing here with the Supreme Court,” McMath said.
The new district would likely run from the northeast corner of the state, down the Mississippi River to East Baton Rouge Parish.
Not all of the current justices support the proposed map.
Chief Justice John Weimer who says he’s in favor of creating a second Black-majority district, penned his own letter to state leaders saying, “The proposed redistricting plan creates polarization, rather than balance, which serves no one. We can and should do better.”
McMath admits there’s only so much you can do with the map and the math when it comes to redistricting.
“We just have to accept what the realities are and the realities where there are populations shifts, we’ve got to take that into account when we draw these maps,” McMath said.
In the meantime, attorney Washington is confident the high court will soon be a more accurate reflection of the state’s population.
“I am hopeful that we at least have justices who have that bent and who can look at the issues presented from that civil rights and social justice lens,” she said.
The special session is set to begin on Monday.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.