The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 6, 2024
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Louisiana’s voting age population is 30% Black, yet a 2022 Congressional district map drew only one of six Congressional districts as majority African American. A court-ordered 2024 map fixed that, but another appeals court just threw it out.
A district court found the 2022 Congressional map intentionally diluted Black voting power. Last November, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and the U.S Supreme Court declined to hear the case. A federal judge ordered a new map be drawn by the legislature, or the court would do it.
Governor Jeff Landry called the Louisiana legislature into session in January 2024, creating a new fairer map including a second majority minority district. But a group of non-Black voters asked the same Fifth Circuit to rehear the case, which, in a 2-1 decision, threw out the fairer maps on April 30th. The group argued that the majority minority district was not geographically compact or reasonably configured.
The decision fits a pattern of cases designed to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Justices Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh appear skeptical of continuing Voting Rights Act protections of minority voters under Section 2. A SCOTUS decision in a South Carolina case determining whether racial gerrymandering can be cloaked as partisan gerrymandering is expected shortly.
We have a link to the Louisiana opinion and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
U.S. Justice Department – Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act
Legal Defense Fund – (2023) Federal Court of Appeals Affirms Louisiana’s Congressional Map is Discriminatory
American Democracy Minute – (2023) Appeals Court (Finally) Finds Louisiana Congressional Map was Discriminatory; Orders New Maps to Be Drawn by January 15
Louisiana Illuminator – Voters sue over creation of Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district
Louisiana Illuminator – Federal court tosses Landry-backed Louisiana congressional map
Democracy Docket – Federal Court Strikes Down Louisiana’s New Congressional Map
U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana – Decision in Callais v. Landry
Democracy Docket – (Opinion) How the 5th Circuit Is Dismantling Democracy
Groups Taking Action:
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU Louisiana, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice
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