Arrr, the court be refuse'n Louisiana's cry to reconsider the chart of their ship, the House!
2023-12-15
Arr! The scallywags of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals be denyin' Louisiana's pleas to rehear a case, resultin' in a forced redraw of the state's congressional map. Methinks those landlubbers be keelhauled fer their misdeeds!
In a hilarious twist of events, a federal appeals court has refused to reconsider its ruling that Louisiana must create a new congressional map by January 15th. Why, you ask? Well, it turns out that the current political boundaries are diluting the power of the state's Black voters. Arrr, mateys, it seems the pirates of the Louisiana Legislature have some explaining to do!The court denied a request by Louisiana's Republican secretary of state and other officials to have a larger set of judges rehear the decision made by a three-judge panel. This panel made it clear that if the Legislature fails to pass a new map, then the lower court will step in and decide on a plan for the 2024 elections. Shiver me timbers!
This political tug-of-war and legal battle over Louisiana's GOP-drawn congressional map has been going on for more than a year and a half, me hearties. Louisiana is just one of many states still wrangling over congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court found that Alabama had violated the Voting Rights Act.
Now, here's where it gets interesting. The current map, used in the last congressional election, has white majorities in five out of six districts, despite Black people accounting for one-third of the state's population. Talk about an unfair booty distribution!
The Republicans, who dominate the Legislature, argue that the map is fair. They claim that the Black populations in the state are too spread out to be united into a second majority Black district. But the Democrats disagree, saying that the map discriminates against Black voters and that there should be two majority-minority districts. Ahoy, mateys, this could mean an additional congressional seat for the Democrats!
So, it looks like the Louisiana officials tried to use a recent decision from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to support their case. In that decision, the court said that private individuals and groups like the NAACP cannot sue under a key section of the Voting Rights Act. Blimey, this could spell trouble for protections under the 1965 law!