Louisiana erases Black congressional district

Louisiana’s congressional map fight just turned from a court case into an election scramble. The state had been using a 2024 map with two majority-Black U.S. House districts. On April 29, the Supreme Court threw that map out in *Louisiana v. Callais*. One day later, Gov. Jeff Landry suspended the state’s U.S. House primaries and opened the door to a redraw that could wipe out the second Black district entirely. ### What changed this week? The immediate trigger was the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on April 29, 2026. The justices said Louisiana’s 2024 map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, even though lawmakers had adopted it after lower courts said the earlier 2022 map likely diluted Black vote elections. ### Why was that district there in the first place? Because Louisiana is about one-third Black, but its original post-2020 map had only one majority-Black district out of six. Black voters sued. Federal courts agreed the 2022 lines likely shortchanged their voting power and told the state to fix it. So in 2024, lawmakers drew a second majority-Black district, and that map helped elect Cleo Fields back to Congress. ### So what did Landry actually do? On April 30, Landry signed an executive order suspending only the U.S. House primaries that had been set for May 16, with runoffs on June 27. Early voting was supposed to begin May 2. Other elections stayed on the calendar. Landry said the Supreme Court ruling revived a lower-court injunction and made it illegal to hold House races under the invalidated map. ### Why are people saying Louisiana is erasing a Black district? Because one of the ready-made redraw options would do exactly that. Senate Bill 116, which was already filed before the ruling, keeps six districts but leaves none of them majority-Black. District 2, centered on New Orleans, comes closest, but “closest” is not the same thing. If lawmakers use that approach, Louisiana goes from two majority-Black districts to zero. ### Is that final yet? Not yet. The legislature still has to pass a new map, or a court could step in later. But the direction of travel is pretty clear. Louisiana’s Republican leadership wanted extra room on the election calendar months ago in case the Court struck down the 2024 lines, and now that contingency plan is live. ### Who is fighting back? A lot of people, fast. Multiple lawsuits landed within a day of Landry’s order, including challenges from lawmakers, voters, and civil-rights aligned groups arguing that the governor abused emergency powers to halt an election already underway. By May 1, judges had declined to immediately force the primaries back on schedule, but the legal fight is still moving. ### Why does this matter outside Louisiana? Because the Court did more than reject one map. The ruling makes it harder for states to use race-conscious line drawing to comply with Section 2, which many voting-rights lawyers see as the core federal protection against minority vote dilu ### What’s the bottom line? This is not just a map cleanup. It is a fast-moving attempt to rewrite Louisiana’s House districts after the Supreme Court changed the rules — and the most likely casualty is Black representation that existed only because courts forced the state to create it in the first place.