Dem
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GOP
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Meet the new map, same as the old map. That's two rock and roll references in the first 14 words of the item (including headline). Don't tell us this site has nothing for the kiddies. Anyhow, the district map saga in Louisiana has taken another turn, as the U.S. Supreme Court stayed a decision made a couple of weeks ago by a three-judge panel, thus restoring a district map that features two majority-Black districts (LA-02 and LA-06) instead of just one (LA-02). The reasoning in the Court's order was that it's too close to the elections to be swapping maps (this is known as the Purcell Principle).
The order was unsigned, but there were three dissents, so that means the vote was either 6-3, 5-3, 4-3 or 5-4. And if you endeavored to guess who the three dissenters were, you would almost certainly be wrong. In fact, the three dissenters were the three liberals. Associate Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor did not explain themselves, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson only explained herself briefly, but apparently their concern is that they don't want to set a precedent that 6 months from an election is "too close." Given Louisiana's jungle-style approach, their primary is on Election Day, and Jackson, at least, thinks there was still time to address this situation and create a permanent resolution, as opposed to kicking the can down the road.
If you guessed that Louisiana Republicans were unhappy with the decision, well, you'd be wrong again. There was much praise from that side of the Bayou State aisle yesterday. The official reason is that the state needs plenty of time to get ballots right, and switching maps at a late date creates too much time pressure. Maybe that's true. Or maybe the LA GOP is happy about the same (potential) precedent that made Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson unhappy. Or maybe it's that the guy who is likely to lose his seat is Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA). He's tight with Kevin McCarthy, which means he's not especially popular with Donald Trump or with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Oh, and Graves has also butted heads with Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA).
With the old map back in place, the favorite to win the seat is state Sen. Cleo Fields (D-LA), who served in Congress back in the 1990s. That said, there's still another month to get on the ballot, so more contenders could toss their hats into the ring. In any case, the Democrats' path to retaking the House just got a tiny bit easier. (Z)