Federal Panel Throws Out Louisiana’s Redrawn Map With Majority-Black Districts

A panel of federal judges has thrown out Louisiana’s recently-drawn congressional map that had created a second majority-black district in the state, likely sending the case to the Supreme Court. In a 2-1 vote on April 30, the three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court in Monroe, Louisiana sided with voters who opposed the new map, finding that it violated the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. They further agreed that race had played a “predominate role” in the redistricting of the congressional districts in the state and that the new district created by the map, known as District 6, is an “impermissible racial gerrymander.”...