Judge won’t delay order for congressional remap in Louisiana

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has refused to delay her order for Louisiana to redraw its congressional districts while the state’s top elections official appeals. Judge Shelly Dick had ruled Tuesday that the map violates the Voting Rights Act and must be redrawn by June 20 to add a second majority Black district. Louisiana is nearly one-third African American and has six U.S. House sets. Court papers for Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin call the deadline “unworkable.” Dick on Thursday described that the state’s argument as “insincere and not persuasive.”  The judge says a stay would cause substantial harm to voters. Gov. John Bel Edwards has called a June 15 special session on the issue.