Lawyers claim postponing the election after a landmark Supreme Court ruling creates massive confusion for voters, including tens of thousands who have already cast early or absentee ballots.
(CN) – Voting rights groups are suing Louisiana’s secretary of state to stop Gov. Jeff Landry from suspending the state’s U.S. House primary.
The primary elections were scheduled for May 16, with a runoff on June 27. But after the U.S. Supreme Court found the state’s current congressional map unconstitutional, Landry issued a executive order April 30, delaying primaries for six House seats until July so the Legislature can redistrict.
In one complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, the League of Women Voters of Louisiana Education Fund and some voters claim the governor’s order has “caused massive confusion at the polls,” with people unsure whether the election will take place or whether their votes will be counted.
The groups claim that as of Saturday nearly 80,000 votes had already been cast in the primary, with House races still appearing on the ballot.
“The purported nullification of the congressional primaries after the plaintiffs and many other voters have already cast and continue to cast valid ballots severely and unreasonably burdens their fundamental right to vote because it effectively invalidates all those votes based on retroactive injunctions that are beyond the voters’ control,” the groups wrote.
The Secretary of State and Landry’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent after business hours.
Separate lawsuits challenging the governor’s executive order have also been filed by a The candidate of the primary Democratic Party AND National Council of Jewish Women – Greater New Orleans Section.
On April 29, the Supreme Court ruled Louisiana v. Callais that the state’s current congressional map is an unconstitutional racial affront. The Louisiana Legislature drew the map in January 2024 after a federal judge found an earlier map, with only one majority black congressional district, likely violated the Voting Rights Act by reducing black voting power.
In its landmark ruling, which critics say weakens the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court found that the original map did not violate the act and therefore the Legislature was not constitutionally justified in relying on the race to draw a new map with a second majority-black district.
The Louisiana League of Women Voters’ lawsuit rests in part on the argument that the Supreme Court had not yet concluded its decision in Callis. Under normal procedure, the court waits 32 days before sending a certified copy of the judgment to the clerk of the lower court to give the losing party time to request a rehearing.
However, the Supreme Court issued an unsigned order Monday allowing judgment IN Callis to take immediate effect. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Joe Biden appointee, criticized the decision in a dissenting opinion, saying that the quick certification of the ruling is “tantamount to an endorsement of Louisiana’s rush to stop the ongoing election in order to pass a new map.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the plaintiffs in the Louisiana League of Women Voters lawsuit, did not immediately respond to an after-hours request for comment on how the high court’s order will affect the plaintiffs’ claims.
Subscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing arguments provides the latest on ongoing trials, major litigation and decisions in courts around the US and the world, while monthly Under the lights feeds legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.
