BATON ROUGE — Insisting that their latest attempt fully complies with federal voting laws, the state legislature passed a new congressional map on Wednesday that perfectly reflects the state's 33% Black population by guaranteeing Republicans five of its six available seats.

The approval wraps up a challenging 2024 redistricting cycle for the state. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed a map containing two majority-Black districts, an error that was quickly rectified when Governor Jeff Landry vetoed the measure. The legislature then swiftly drafted the current map, ensuring the traditional dilution of minority votes was restored just in time for the upcoming congressional elections.

"We have carefully reviewed the 2022 federal court ruling against our initial map, as well as the Supreme Court's 2023 decision requiring states to reflect Black voting strength," said a party spokesperson. "After extensive study of these civil rights mandates, we concluded the most legally sound approach was to maintain a single majority-Black district and draw new boundaries that flip an existing Democratic seat to Republican control."

Bureau records show the state's legal team has already pre-signed the appeals paperwork to defend the new boundaries in the likely event of another Supreme Court escalation, leaving only the date blank for when a lower court judge inevitably strikes them down.