Louisiana’s move to change boundaries in the House of Representatives is irritating lawmakers, voting rights advocates

Tensions erupted Friday as Republican Louisiana lawmakers unveiled novel electoral maps aimed at eliminating one or both of Louisiana’s predominantly Black congressional districts.

Hundreds of people flocked to the state Capitol, filling several additional rooms, to watch the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, which met to consider novel U.S. House district boundaries and give the public a chance to comment. Lawmakers don’t plan to start voting on the maps until at least next week.

Committee chairman Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, called the hearing after Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency and suspended the upcoming U.S. primary election in Louisiana on April 30, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state’s existing congressional map was an unconstitutional racist tool against white voters.

Within minutes of the meeting ending, Sen. Gary Carter Jr. in New Orleans began questioning Kleinpeter about how many absentee ballots had already been cast in the May 16 U.S. House primary and whether the votes would be counted.

“Can you give the public confidence that these ballots will not be thrown away?” He asked Carter.

Kleinpeter said Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry, who is not related to the governor, was the appropriate person to answer his question but was not present.

Carter continued the questioning by asking Kleinpeter if he was personally concerned about the status of his own ballot.

“Have you voted yet?” He asked Carter.

“I don’t have to answer that,” Kleinpeter replied.

Startled by the rapid-fire questions from Carter, who usually speaks quietly, Kleinpeter called a break, which relieved the tension enough for the meeting to resume after a few minutes.

Kleinpeter told Carter that he would make sure the secretary of state was briefed on his questions and that she or someone from her office would attend the next committee meeting, scheduled for Wednesday.

Nancy Landry declined to answer questions about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, explaining that Callais v. Louisiana is still pending after it returned to the federal district court where it was initiated. There are also ongoing legal challenges to the governor’s executive order to postpone the U.S. House of Representatives primary elections.

The rest of Friday’s hearing was filled with agitation among senators and protesters, and chants of “shut it down” were heard from participants watching the proceedings from the Senate committee chamber corridor and adjacent overflow rooms.

The discussion became especially heated when state Sen. Jay Morris of West Monroe unveiled his congressional map that eliminates both majority-Black House districts. Morris, who is white, said his proposed boundaries would not prevent a black candidate from winning one of the state’s six seats.

“I didn’t draw with the intention of tying it 6-0,” Morris said. “I have omitted race… This is to comply with the decisions of the Supreme Court in Callais.”

Carter began a heated exchange with Morris over legislation the West Monroe senator was sponsoring this session eliminate the clerk of the Orleans Parish Criminal Court and eliminate several of his judges. Gov. Jeff Landry signed the clerks bill, barring acquitted “prison lawyer” Calvin Duncan, who is now a real lawyer, from taking office. Morris’ solution to reduce Orleans’ judgeship is pending before the House.

“Let’s look at your body of work,” Carter told Morris. “Your work has eliminated the elected seat of an African American in New Orleans. Your work has eliminated the political power of many elected officials in the city of New Orleans.”

Morris said his legislation only seeks to consolidate Orleans Parish’s dual court system for civil and criminal cases, the only one of its kind in the state.

Carter and Morris began shouting over each other, prompting Kleinpeter to call another recess, which cut off the microphones and live video feed from the Capitol.

“Turn your mic back on!” Carter screamed. “He suggests he is not a racist. I suggest we look at his work.”

“You don’t fit the norm,” Kleinpeter said.

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The sergeants intervened to try to serene the room while Carter and Morris got up to leave. As Morris walked away, he turned to the audience seated behind him opposing his proposals and said, “You need to shut up.”

“I became frustrated as I tried to answer questions from committee members and people in the audience directly behind me continued to comment and speak so loudly that it was difficult for me to concentrate and answer questions,” Morris said in a statement released after the hearing.

As Carter and Morris left the committee room for another recess, the crowd in the hallway chanted “let him talk,” referring to Carter. Sergeants at Arms stood guard on either side of the committee chamber’s double doors, allowing no one to enter or exit.

@wesleysmuller Protesters try to storm a Senate hearing on congressional redistricting #livehighlights #tiktoklive ♬ original sound – Wes Muller

One protester, Mike McClanahan, president of the NAACP state conference, managed to open the door and try to enter, but guards physically forced him back into the hall and locked the door.

Eventually, McClanahan was allowed into the courtroom after the commotion died down. In a later interview, he said he just wanted to see what was going on because the live feed had been cut off.

“This is the people’s house,” McClanahan said. “We have the right to hear every single thing, especially when the session is in our home. So I just tried to tell them, ‘Let the people speak. Let the people speak.’ Because we need to hear. We want to hear.”

Morris did not return to court on Friday and did not return a phone call.

During the meeting, which lasted about six hours, the committee heard from several voting rights advocates.

Before the second recess, all four Black congressmen from Louisiana, past and present, since Reconstruction, addressed the committee: current U.S. Reps. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans; Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge; and former congressmen William Jefferson and Cedric Richmond.

Troy Carter’s 2nd District seat will be eliminated in the version of the map Kleinpeter said lawmakers are most likely to win. The congressman is the uncle of state senator Gary Carter.

“Today here in Louisiana we are being tested and the whole world is watching,” Troy Carter said. “The question before us is not just about lines on the map. The question before us is whether we will respect the principle that every citizen is entitled to equal protection of the law.”