“Civil rights groups sue to block Louisiana’s congressional map that keeps one Black district”

Gannett:

A coalition of civil rights groups has filed a lawsuit to block Louisiana’s new congressional map, arguing the boundaries violate the Voting Rights Act because it doesn’t add a second majority-Black district.

“The (Legislature) once again voted in favor of a map that violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and undermines the will of thousands of Louisianans who made their voices heard throughout the process demanding fair maps and respect for Black Louisianans,” tweeted Tori Wegner, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

On Wednesday Louisiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature overturned Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto of the map that kept one majority-Black district out of six despite the state’s Black population growing to about one-third over the past decade.

It was the first time in three decades that lawmakers overturned a gubernatorial veto and only the third time since the current Louisiana Constitution was enacted in 1973.

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