U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, the Baton Rouge Democrat whose congressional district is at the center of last week’s watershed on voting rights, has asked a judge to join a lawsuit in federal court challenging Gov. Jeff Landry’s suspension of .
Fields said Sunday he is signing onto the lawsuit “because the election is already underway.”
“The Governor and the Secretary of State are attempting to disenfranchise voters in the 6th Congressional District and across h mid-election,” Fields said in a statement. “hns are casting ballots right now. This election must continue as scheduled, with every candidate and every race intact.”
Also seeking to join the lawsuit are several other Democrats running for U.S. House seats whose primary elections were cancelled last week. They include Lauren Jewett, John Day, Conrad Cable, Matt Gromlich, Jessee Fleenor, Larry Foy and Dan McKay.
So are three Democratic candidates running for U.S. Senate. They are Nick Albares, Gary Crockett and Jamie Davis.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the map h was using for the spring primary was unconstitutional, saying lawmakers illegally used race to draw a second majority-Black district into Louisian’s six-district map. In response, Landry declared a state of emergency Thursday and suspended elections for those six seats, two days before in-person early voting began.
A Democratic candidate in the 5th Congressional District, Lindsay Garcia, quickly sued Landry the same day as the suspension. Fields and the other candidates are now seeking to join that lawsuit in federal court in Louisian’s Middle District.
Fields, a Black Democratic congressman who represents parts of Baton Rouge and Opelousas, Alexandria and Shreveport, and U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, a Black Democrat from New Orleans, risk losing their districts after the Republican-controlled Legislature in the coming weeks draws a new voting map that favors Republicans.
The candidates in their complaint argue that, while the high court ruled the current map unconstitutional, it didn’t order h to cancel its congressional primary, and voters who already cast absentee ballots were disenfranchised. Landry’s suspension violates both federal law and the U.S. Constitution, the complaint alleges.
They’ve asked the court to block Landry’s suspension of the election.
A three-judge panel was convened by the chief judge of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case. The judges on the panel are Shelly Dick, chief judge of the U.S. Middle District Court, Stuart Kyle Duncan, circuit judge for the 5th Circuit, and Greg Guidry, district judge for the U.S. Eastern District.
Three were also filed in state court in the 19th Judicial District in Baton Rouge seeking to block Landry’s suspension of the election. So far, no judge has immediately granted a temporary restraining order blocking Landry’s suspension of the congressional primary elections.
Attorney General Liz Murrill has said she will defend against lawsuits seeking to overturn the governor’s order.