BATON ROUGE – After a tumultuous day-long hearing Friday, lawmakers will try to break through the tension this week and propose new maps for Louisiana’s six congressional districts.

A Senate panel is expected to resume debate Wednesday, and what it decides could largely carry through both chambers as the Legislature scrambles to draw new maps before the session ends June 1. 

The U.S. Supreme Court recently declared that Louisiana’s current mix, with four Republican districts and two Black-majority districts, was unconstitutional. The ruling struck down key parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, with six of the nine justices saying racial factors could no longer play a significant role in drawing the maps.

Noting that one-third of the state’s residents are Black, minority leaders testified in favor of keeping the two majority-Black districts, while dozens of their supporters in the hallways shouted “shut it down” as the Senate and Governmental Affairs committee also considered maps with 5-1 and 6-0 Republican advantages.

“Today, here in Louisiana, we’re being tested, and the whole world is watching,” said U.S. Rep Troy Carter, a Democrat from New Orleans. “The question before us is not merely about lines on a map. The question before us is whether we will honor the principle that every citizen deserves equal protection of the law.” 

Several proponents of the maps creating more districts dominated by Republicans spoke late Friday, and more Republicans are expected to testify.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, has said it plans to vote this week on maps to send to the full Senate. 

While national Republican leaders are pushing to pick up as many seats as possible to try to hold onto control of the U.S. House, some Louisiana Republicans caution that pushing for a 6-0 map could leave their party with only small advantages in the number of voters in two of the districts, leaving them vulnerable to possible upsets by Democrats. 

If that thinking prevails, the Legislature could go with a 5-1 map.

Kleinpeter had to call two recesses during Friday’s hearing to ease rising tensions. 

U.S. Rep. Carter, U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge and former U.S. Representatives Cedric Richmond and William Jefferson are the only African Americans elected to Congress from Louisiana since the Reconstruction Era. 

They testified together in support of a map by Sen. Edward Price, D-Gonzales that would keep a two majority-minority district configuration. 

Kleinpeter called the first brief recess shortly after the meeting started when Sen. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans, asked how many Louisiana residents had already voted before Republican Gov. Jeff Landry recently suspended the U.S. House primaries. 

Kleinpeter called the second recess after a confrontation between Sen. Carter and Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe. 

Morris, who was presenting his bill for a 6-0 map with all Republican districts and two 5-1 bills with one majority-minority district in each, said in his closing statement he was offended that committee members implied he was racist in their line of questioning. 

Sen. Carter clarified that he was not suggesting that Morris was racist, but that his legislation this session was. Morris has also pushed bills to consolidate the court clerks’ office in New Orleans and cut the number of criminal court judges there, both of which would reduce the number of Black officeholders.

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

Tensions came to a head after Kleinpeter called for a recess, turning off Sen. Carter’s mic, who requested it be turned back on, saying he didn’t “want a recess.” 

The altercation continued after Morris told audience members sitting behind him, “You all need to shut up,” as he was leaving. A brief verbal disagreement followed. 

Morris confirmed in a press release that he said this, saying people sitting behind him were talking loudly during his testimony, which made it difficult for him to answer questions.

After the recess was called and Carter’s mic was cut, onlookers from the hallway attempted to barge into the meeting, and chants erupted in the hallway saying, “Let him speak, let him speak.” 

After order was restored in the committee and the meeting resumed, testimonies began with dozens of people speaking in support and opposition of the maps. Some testimony prompted people listening in the overflow rooms to cheer and bang on the adjoining walls in support. 

“Louisiana has to wake up,” Bishop Paul S. Morton of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International testified. “There’s too much racism in this state. And we’re tired of it. Once people have experienced freedom like we have, I’m here to tell you today, we ain’t going back.”