Judge rejects Black lawmakers’ attempt to force AG Murrill to defend Louisiana’s Congressional maps

By Piper Hutchinson
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit Black state lawmakers filed to force Attorney General Liz Murrill to resume defending the state’s congressional districts currently being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus filed a suit last month in 19th Judicial District Court to allege Murrill is not upholding her constitutional duty to defend laws the legislature passes. She is instead arguing against the constitutionality of the congressional district map lawmakers approved last year in order to advance Republican political interests, according to the filing.

After previously defending the map, Murrill effectively switched sides and joined the white voters who challenged the map once their case was scheduled for
new arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Murrill argued the Black Caucus lawsuit was inappropriate, and that the lawmakers had no standing to file it.

Judge Eboni Rose-Johnson agreed and dismissed the suit.

“This was the proper result,” Murrill said in a news release. “Our focus is on arguments in the United States Supreme Court and addressing the flaws in the court’s jurisprudence that deprives the Legislature of their constitutional duty over drawing maps.”

Black Caucus chairman Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, said he disagreed with the ruling and that the caucus is considering its next steps.

“I think we clearly got a cause of action because while the Attorney General might have the discretion of whether she wants to get involved in a suit, once she gets involved, then she’s got to represent our interests,” Jordan said.

“That’s the biggest issue for us,” Jordan added. “So who represents the state of Louisiana? Who represents the people of Louisiana, if there’s a law that we pass that’s presumed constitutional, that she’s trying to say now is unconstitutional?”

At issue is a congressional map the Legislature adopted last year that includes two majority Black districts, including a new one that stretches from Shreveport to Baton Rouge, slashing across the center of the state. The map is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Callais v. Louisiana, in which the white plaintiffs argue race determined the boundaries of the new 6th Congressional District.

The outcome could decide the future of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits election laws or procedures that purposefully discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in a language minority group.

This article originally published in the October 13, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.