Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Morrill said Thursday that the Supreme Court’s decision The ruling is on Wednesday Opposition to the state’s congressional map means the May 16 congressional primary will not go ahead as scheduled as lawmakers consider drawing a new map.
“The Supreme Court previously stayed an injunction against the state’s implementation of the current congressional map. However, by court order, this moratorium was automatically terminated with yesterday’s decision. Therefore, the state is currently prohibited from holding elections for Congress under the current map. “We are working alongside the Legislature and the Secretary of State’s Office to develop the path forward,” they wrote in the statement.
In this March 24, 2025, file photo, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.
Win McNamee/Getty Images, file
Landry He told at least some Republican candidates for the Louisiana House of Representatives that he intends on Friday to suspend the state’s primary, according to multiple Republican sources.
A Republican source told ABC News that the governor called one of the candidates on Wednesday and said he was making calls to all of the candidates he intends to run on Friday to suspend the election using executive authority. It was the Washington Post First to report About the governor’s invitations.
The source said it was unclear whether this would apply to all planned primaries, which include the closely watched Senate primaries, or just the House primaries that would be affected by the new congressional map.
ABC News has reached out to Landry’s office and the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office.
The Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday overturns lower court decisions that said Louisiana’s map, drawn after the 2020 census, violated the Voting Rights Act because only one of six districts was majority black. More than a third of the state’s voting-age population is black.
The US Supreme Court building in Washington, April 29, 2026.
Nathan Howard – Reuters
Those courts had ordered Louisiana to add a second majority-black district, a process that in turn clearly depended on race. In his opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said the move violated the rights of white voters under the age of 14y Amending the equal protection clause.
Absentee ballots have already been mailed out in Louisiana, and votes will likely be cast, although early in-person voting won’t begin until Saturday, May 2. Absentee voting is relatively limited in Louisiana and requires a valid excuse.
Democratic Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana said Wednesday at the Congressional Black Caucus news conference that the election is too close at this point to change the congressional maps.
“We are now in the 2026 election cycle. “The Supreme Court set a precedent just four years ago in a case in Louisiana, and ruled the district unconstitutional, and said it’s too close to an election now, so we’ll do that next cycle,” Carter said, later adding that “if precedent is important, then clearly this is something that should be addressed in the 2028 session, not 2026.”
But the current Louisiana map cannot be used, according to the Supreme Court ruling. Technically, the state could return to its original 2022 map with one majority-Black district or redraw an entirely new map. Some legal experts have argued that Louisiana can still keep its current map for the May primary.
In this October 15, 2025, file photo, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Morrill, center, speaks with the media upon leaving the Supreme Court after presenting arguments in the case drawing new congressional district boundaries, in Washington, D.C.
Clive Owen/AP, File
On Thursday, Morrill filed a filing with the Supreme Court saying Louisiana is currently “prohibited from using SB8’s map of congressional districts in any election.” Thus, the governor and attorney general are working with the Legislature — which is in session until June 1 — to immediately produce a constitutional map and election process for Louisiana.
Landry on Wednesday praised the ruling, but declined to say whether it would have an impact on those primaries.
“Look, I think anyone jumping to conclusions now — I think it would take us at least 24 hours to dig into the opinion to understand exactly what that opinion is telling us,” he told reporters. But he left open the option of redrawing the map: “I mean, look, the Supreme Court picked an interesting time to be able to drop this on us… The court decided to give it to us on the eve of the election. What are they telling us? Are they telling us we have to draw? Are they telling us we don’t have to draw?”
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
