Emergency petition asks Supreme Court to support new majority-Black district in Louisiana

Voting rights advocates filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to support a new majority-Black district in Louisiana after an appeals court voted 2-1 to reject the congressional map that created it.

The appeals court ruled in April that the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

Any new map needs to be approved and in place by next Wednesday in order to be used for the November 2024 election, according to state election officials.

Gov. Jeff Landry (R) and Attorney Gen. Liz Murrill (R) back the new map, which would likely give Democrats the seat in question.

The state's 2022 map was declared unconstitutional by a lower court because it spread the state's Black voters among all six of the voting districts even though they made up about one-third of the total state population.

Under the newest map before it was struck down, two of the state's six voting districts would have a majority of Black voters.