Louisiana governor to reportedly targert Black congressmen after SCOTUS ruling: ‘You should be as upset as we are’
TheGrio...
“This is bigger than Louisiana. This is bigger than the Congressional Black Caucus. This is about our democracy,” says U.S. Rep. Troy Carter.
Less than a day after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act and declared Louisiana’s congressional map racially discriminatory against white voters, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has expressed his intention to suspend next month’s primary elections in order to have state legislators redraw the state’s map, targeting the state’s two Democratic congressmen, who are both Black.
As a result, U.S. Reps. Troy Carter, who represents the 2nd Congressional District, and Cleo Fields, who represents the 6th Congressional District, could be redrawn into other districts, sealing their defeats in this year’s midterm elections–or pitting them against each other. Fields, whose seat was at the center of Wednesday’s Louisiana v. Callais case, is almost certainly to be targeted.
In a statement released on Thursday, Governor Landry announced his office and the legislature are working on a path forward ahead of the state’s May 16 primary, two days before early voting was set to begin. Landry’s move comes after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that Louisiana’s current map, which contains a previously litigated second majority-Black district, is unconstitutional.
The map was intended to satisfy the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by giving Black voters, who make up one-third of Louisiana’s population, two opportunities to elect their representatives to the U.S. House through majority-minority districts. The Supreme Court, however, ruled on Wednesday that the second majority-Black district was not protected under Section 2 of the VRA and violated white voters’ 14th Amendment right under the Equal Protection clause.
The court also ruled that, moving forward, claims of racial discrimination in voting practices would have to be proven as intentional. Because Black voters overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, targeting them is based on partisanship and not race, the court essentially argues.
“The court is saying…you can’t say that gerrymandering that the state says is partisan is somehow racist, because Black people tend to vote for Democrats anyway,” Damon Hewitt, executive director at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told theGrio. “The jurisprudence is this assumption that partisanship is good and that partisanship can mask racism.”
Wednesday’s ruling now gives states the green light to target majority-Black districts traditionally represented by Black members of Congress that were previously considered protected under the Voting Rights Act.
During a Congressional Black Caucus press conference on Capitol Hill following the SCOTUS ruling, Congressman Fields, who entered Congress in 2025, noted that, given the Louisiana v. Callais case, he’s “never served a day in Congress without a lawsuit in the Supreme Court.” Acknowledging an inevitably redrawn map targeting his district, Fields said, “If you tell me that I got to jump a certain height, I could probably do that. Tell me I got to run a certain distance, I could probably do that too. But if you tell me I have to be white to serve in Congress from Louisiana, I can’t do nothing about that.”
Congressman Troy, who’s also in jeopardy of Republicans’ anticipated gerrymandering, said, “This is bigger than Louisiana. This is bigger than the Congressional Black Caucus. This is about our democracy.” He explained, “What this really means is far deeper than Louisiana; the impacts go throughout every congressional district, every school board district, every legislative district, every city council district.”
Republicans and Democrats are now engaged in a nationwide gerrymandering battle after President Donald Trump, seeking to keep his party in control of Congress and evade congressional oversight and possible impeachment, pushed for Republican-controlled states to redraw their congressional maps to gain more seats. Following Republicans’ successful redistricting in Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri and Utah, Democrats have hit back with major redistricting in California and Virginia.
Rep. Troy, who, along with CBC members, called for new legislation to restore voting rights, urged Americans to stand with Democrats and pro-justice leaders to fight back against Trump-led gerrymandering in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s consequential ruling.
“If you care about justice, freedom, and fair elections, you should be as upset as we are,” said the Louisiana congressman. “You should be willing to band with us, to defend our Constitution, to defend our rule of law; to make sure that no one person, whoever that person may be, has the right to singularly tip the scales.”