The special legislative session to pass a court-ordered congressional map with two Black majority districts failed to pass and now lawmakers await feedback from the judicial system. Baton Rouge Senator Cleo Fields said despite his efforts with a map that had two Black districts, in the end, the legislature simply had no desire to pass a new map.
“No matter how many maps they introduced, the people who were talking the loudest, did not have any desire to pass a map with two majority Black districts,” said Fields.
Chair of Senate Governmental Affairs, Slidell Senator Sharon Hewitt said the legislature did make a concerted effort, but in the end, she said the votes weren’t there.
“Although there was a great effort, I think on the part of the legislature to adhere to the court’s order, there just wasn’t a map that was presented that we could get enough votes to support,” said Hewitt.
Hewitt presented a map for consideration in the special session, but it only contained one Black majority district. Fields said Republicans weren’t willing to pass any map except the one that passed in the original redistricting session.
“When’s you’ve got the chairman of the committee introducing a bill with a single majority district, which basically defies the court’s order, that’s why I objected to sending her bill to the committee,” said Fields.
Even though the session adjourned on the fourth legislative day Hewitt said Judge Shelly Dick’s order that only allowed them six days to pass a new map wasn’t realistic.
“Maybe the judge just wanted to put the pen in her hand and say, ‘If you don’t do it I will,’ and didn’t really give us a legitime opportunity to do so,” said Hewitt.
Judge Dick set a court date of June 29th for attorneys to present congressional maps for her consideration while the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has a July 8th court date set. Attorney General Jeff Landry is petitioning the State Supreme Court to rule on the matter.