The Republican governor of Louisiana is jumping on the Supreme Court’s evisceration of voting rights to cancel the state’s upcoming primary elections to help avert a humiliating defeat for Donald Trump at the midterms.
The high court ruled 6-3 along partisan lines on Wednesday to strike down Louisiana’s voting map, with the conservative majority finding that lawmakers had unlawfully factored in race when creating a new majority-Black district in the state.
The decision prompted a quick response from Gov. Jeff Landry, who is determined to redraw the voting maps to grab his party another seat in Congress.
It said Landry, a MAGA favorite who also serves as Trump’s envoy to Greenland, told House Republican candidates he is planning to suspend next month’s primary elections in order to give state lawmakers enough time to pass a new congressional map, according to two people with knowledge of the calls.
The primaries are currently scheduled for May 16. People familiar with the plans said that Landry’s announcement could come as early as Friday, one day before early voting was set to begin.
Why on earth does Louisiana give that kind of power to the governor? Shouldn’t be possible to cancel elections of any kind, unless there is civil war in the state.
Or is this another instance of a republican see what their stacked courts will let them get away with?
This guy has strategically changed the law in Louisiana, starting over a decade ago when he was AG. Republicans in the Louisiana House and Senate introduce and pass laws at his behest that have allowed him pretty much unchecked power.
One of the first things he did when he took office was fire a tenured law professor bc he made fun of him in one of his law classes.
Once he was accused of an ethics violation, so he just completely changed the laws about who sat on the state ethics board and term limits, and then restaffed the board so it was composed of his own friends. Surprisingly the board looked into it and determined there was no ethics violation.
Sounds like my state. And probably everyone’s, if we’re honest.
But elections weren’t canceled during the American civil war.
Look up Huey Long, dude ran the state like a dictator, because he effectively was, also see Eugene Talmadge in Georgia
That is very much an oversimplification . . . while Long did stretch if not break the law often, his main power base was because he delivered economic benefits for most of the people.
His opponents were the same elites that had run the government for generations for their own benefit. And weren’t playing any nicer - as an example, while Long did call out the national guard, it was because Standard Oil had indeed organized militias that were actively attempting the overthrow of the government.
Yep, basically tale a look at the entire history of the deep south states- up until the voting rights act was implemented. Proving it’s need both then and now.
Louisiana is the anus of the USA.