A surprise bipartisan effort to redraw Louisiana’s nearly 25-year-old state Supreme Court map and bring more minority representation to the bench died on the House floor Wednesday after the chamber’s Republican majority tabled the bill, prematurely suspending debate and preventing a vote.
A surprise bipartisan effort to redraw Louisiana’s nearly 25-year-old state Supreme Court map and bring more minority representation to the bench died on the House floor Wednesday after the chamber’s Republican majority tabled the bill, prematurely suspending debate and preventing a vote.
In a surprising vote, a Republican-controlled House committee advanced a proposed state Supreme Court map that increases the number of majority-Black districts for the state’s highest court. It was the first time either of the Republican-controlled committees at the center of the redistricting process advanced legislation that would create new majority-minority districts in the state.
Governor John Bel Edwards voiced support for adding additional majority-Black voting districts to the state’s election maps at a press conference Monday, but refused to promise he would veto a map that did not accomplish that goal.