Louisiana’s Election Calendar Just Got Blown Up After Supreme Court Ruling

Louisiana has suspended its May 16 primary elections for congressional races following the Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday on its congressional map, as districts need to be redrawn in order to be legally compliant.

The Supreme Court ruled that one of the state’s majority-minority districts was illegally racially gerrymandered.

“Yesterday’s historic Supreme Court victory for Louisiana has an immediate consequence for the State. The Supreme Court previously stayed an injunction against the State’s enforcement of the current Congressional map,” Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) and Attorney General Liz Murrill (R-LA) said in a statement on Thursday. “By the Court’s order, however, that stay automatically terminated with yesterday’s decision. Accordingly, the State is currently enjoined from carrying out congressional elections under the current map. We are working together with the Legislature and the Secretary of State’s office to develop a path forward.”

Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion of the court that “the State’s attempt to satisfy the Middle District’s ruling, although understandable, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”

Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA), the only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation, blasted the Supreme Court’s decision as a “devastating blow.”

“The consequences of this decision are immediate and severe: the hard-fought progress that led to the creation of two majority-Black congressional districts in Louisiana is now in jeopardy,” Carter said in a statement.

“Let’s be clear: this is not about so-called ‘colorblind’ principles. History has shown us time and again that policies claiming neutrality, from literacy tests to poll taxes, have been used to silence Black voices. Louisiana knows this history all too well. Without the protections of the Voting Rights Act, there is no evidence to suggest that Black voters in our state will be able to elect candidates of their choice,” Carter continued.

It’s unclear if and how the move will impact other races in the state, as other contests are set to occur that day as well, including the hotly competitive Republican Senate primary between Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).