Louisiana will ask Supreme Court to overturn key part of Voting Rights Act, invalidate map

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Louisiana is now urging the U.S. Supreme Court to rule a key section of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional, which would throw out the state's congressional map that has two minority-majority districts.

“The Constitution forbids sorting voters by race. And telling legislators drawing maps to think about race, but not think too much about race, is an untenable standard,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said after releasing Wednesday afternoon a 58-page brief filed with the Supreme Court.

Louisiana had previously defended the maps, saying they had created them under protest when a federal judge ruled a previous map with one minority district unconstitutional. But, after the Supreme Court asked for arguments on whether Section Two of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is constitutional, the state changed direction.

“We have consistently argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s redistricting jurisprudence needs to be drastically changed or overruled,” Murrill said. “By requiring state legislatures to draw maps that sort voters by race, it forces us to violate the federal Constitution."

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