BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A bill to give Louisiana a second majority-Black Supreme Court district was killed on the House floor Wednesday when an opponent used a parliamentary move to abruptly cut off debate, angering the measure's Republican sponsor.
Rep. Barry Ivey of Baton Rouge had pushed the bill. It died when the House voted 52-43 in favor of a motion by Rep. Mark Wright, a Covington Republican, to table it. A motion to table cannot be debated under House rules. It's a rarely used tactic to shut down debate and kill a bill.
“We'll just continue to get by here in Louisiana, because we're too stupid to work together,” Ivey told his colleagues during a speech immediately following the vote.
Ivey, who is white, has joined fellow Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature in opposing efforts to create a second majority-minority congressional district in Louisiana. Five of six congressional districts are represented by white Republicans. A second majority-Black district would likely mean a second Democrat in the state's U.S. House delegation.
Ivey said the proposals he's seen are too disruptive of existing congressional districts. And he said he felt the state would not be in violation of federal law by failing to create a second majority Black congressional district, noting that pockets of Black population are dispersed around the state.
“A six-district congressional map is a much more difficult task, trying to create a second majority-minority district, because of the population distribution of minorities,” Ivey told the House.
But Ivey parted ways with other Republicans regarding the Louisiana Supreme Court. Among a variety of reasons, he argued, it would be easier to create a second majority-minority Supreme Court district. He said the state should do so to ensure compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act. There are currently seven Supreme Court districts.
Ivey spoke for about 15 minutes, then took a few questions from Wright and others for about six minutes before Wright moved to table the measure.
Other legislation that would redraw Supreme Court boundary lines without creating new minority districts is advancing in the Legislature.
The Legislature is meeting in special session to redraw political district lines to reflect population shifts reflected in the 2020 Census. The session is scheduled to end no later than Sunday at 6 p.m.
Legislative lines also are being redrawn. House and Senate committees on Wednesday advanced bills that would redraw legislative lines to account for losses of population in north Louisiana. It appears lawmakers are not going to increase the number of minority districts from 29 in the 105-member state House (about 28%), or from 12 in the 39-member Senate (30%). The state population is about 33% Black.
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