The Republican governor of Louisiana is jumping on the Supreme Court’s evisceration of voting rights to cancel the state’s upcoming primary elections to help avert a humiliating defeat for Donald Trump at the midterms.
The high court ruled 6-3 along partisan lines on Wednesday to strike down Louisiana’s voting map, with the conservative majority finding that lawmakers had unlawfully factored in race when creating a new majority-Black district in the state.
The decision prompted a quick response from Gov. Jeff Landry, who is determined to redraw the voting maps to grab his party another seat in Congress.
The court’s conservative justices insisted that the ruling still preserved a central tenet of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of the civil rights movement to end racial discrimination in elections.
But the three liberal justices disagreed, arguing that the court had eliminated one of the last meaningful protections established by the landmark law.
In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote, “I dissent because the court’s decision will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity. I dissent.”
Republicans in Louisiana jumped into action, ready to seize the opportunity presented by the ruling, according to the Washington Post.
It said Landry, a MAGA favorite who also serves as Trump’s envoy to Greenland, told House Republican candidates he is planning to suspend next month’s primary elections in order to give state lawmakers enough time to pass a new congressional map, according to two people with knowledge of the calls.
The primaries are currently scheduled for May 16. People familiar with the plans said that Landry’s announcement could come as early as Friday, one day before early voting was set to begin.
The Daily Beast has contacted the governor’s office for comment. A spokesperson for Landry declined to comment when contacted by the Washington Post.
Earlier on Wednesday, Landry said that the Supreme Court’s ruling had “affirmed what we have said for years: drawing districts for political reasons is the States’ prerogative, not a federal civil rights violation.”
As a result of the ruling, the Republican Party is expected to gain one or two House seats in the upcoming midterm elections.
Landry’s efforts mirror those of his fellow Republicans around the country, including Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
Shortly after the verdict was announced on Wednesday, Blackburn shared a message for her state legislature on X.
“I urge our state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis. It’s essential to cement @realDonaldTrump’s agenda and the Golden Age of America,” Blackburn wrote.
“I’ve vowed to keep Tennessee a red state, and as Governor, I’ll do everything I can to make this map a reality‚” she added. Blackburn is running for governor in November’s gubernatorial election.
UCLA law professor Richard Hasen, who is director of the school’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, told the Washington Post that Landry’s plan did not appear to violate any federal voting laws.
“It’s naked partisanship, but under the Supreme Court’s approach to voting now, naked partisanship is more of a defense than an indictment,” Hasen said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling, and Landry’s subsequent push, come as gerrymandering fights across the country ramp up ahead of the midterm elections in November, where the GOP hopes to hold onto its slim majority.
Responding to the ruling, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “Voter suppression is a way of life for Donald Trump and far right extremists on the Supreme Court. Republicans know they cannot win a free and fair election in November and so they are desperate to rig it. We will never let them succeed.”
Republicans have thus far managed to redraw 13 districts across five states in their favor, while Democrats have done so in nine districts across three states.
