Map with 2nd Black Louisiana Supreme Court district clears House committee
New Black district would stretch along river from northeast La. to Baton Rouge
“One district has votes that count for half the votes in another,” Johnson, who is unrelated to the U.S. House Speaker of the same name, said.
Two years ago, Republicans largely opposed all redistricting measures that would have added majority-Black seats, but Tuesday’s proposal drew no opposition. Gov. Jeff Landry, a conservative Republican, has called on lawmakers to draw a second Black congressional district, and a majority of the current Supreme Court justices proposed the new map Johnson is backing.
State lawmakers had asked the court to study the issue and come up with a redistricting proposal of their own. In December, five of the justices signed a letter to lawmakers that voiced their support for the newly-proposed map with a second majority-Black district.
