The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week for a Louisiana-based case that could determine the future of the federal Voting Rights Act and whether race can be a factor in drawing political districts. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Mark Ballard reports that it’s not Louisiana’s first turn in the civil rights legal spotlight:
Out of Louisiana, [Southern University political science professor Albert Samuels] noted, came the litigation that helped end Reconstruction laws protecting the formerly enslaved, the “grandfather clause” that kept Blacks from registering to vote and the landmark Plessy case, which enshrined Jim Crow laws limiting African American opportunities. “Ironically, it’s Louisiana at the center of this again,” Samuels said …
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is meant to ensure that voting laws and procedures don’t discriminate against Black voters, and could be ruled unconstitutional by the Court’s conservative supermajority. That would allow the Louisiana Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional map, which includes two Black-majority districts, and allow other states to do the same:
“It will be an earthquake in the American political system,” UCLA law professor Rick Hasen wrote on the Election Law Blog. He surmised that the conservative justices will interpret previous laws and opinions “to sap Section 2 of its power without formally overturning it.” A number of Black members of Congress — 19 according to Fair Fight, a voting rights group based in Atlanta — could quickly find their districts endangered because Section 2 was relied upon to draw them.
Pushback to linking school funding to attendance
State lawmakers recently created the Truancy Study Group to explore ways to reduce Louisiana’s high rate of student absenteeism. One (bad) idea is to reduce state funding for public schools with high truancy rates. Louisiana already underfunds its public schools and pays teachers well below the Southern regional average. That funding gap would only increase if more dollars are withheld from local schools. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Elyse Carmosino reports:
“Kids come to us in survival mode. Some don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” said Robert Wells, principal of Broadmoor High School in Baton Rouge. “If the goal is to do better and support kids to produce better outcomes, to help them leave high school and be able to go out and do whatever it is that they want to do, we can’t cut funding.” … Average daily attendance data doesn’t take into account students who miss school for reasons outside of their control, like prolonged illness, [Chief Financial officer for the Louisiana Department of Education Beth Scioneaux] said. She also noted that districts with higher numbers of economically disadvantaged students usually struggle the most with chronic absenteeism.
Government shutdown threatens food assistance
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides crucial food assistance to more than 42 million Americans. Stateline’s Ariana Figueroa explains how the program will run out of funding in two weeks unless Congress reaches a deal to reopen the federal government:
“You’re talking about millions and millions of vulnerable families of hungry families that are not going to have access to these programs because of this shutdown,” [Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins] said outside the White House Thursday. USDA could not be reached for comment Friday. USDA has directed regional SNAP directors to stop working on benefits for November, according to an Oct. 10 letter obtained by Politico, written by the program’s acting associate administrator, Ronald Ward.
Last on the “good lists;” first on the “bad lists”
Louisiana is the most dangerous state in the nation, according to a new report from WalletHub. It’s the third straight year the Pelican State has ranked at the bottom of the Safest States in America list. The Shreveport Times’ Presley Bo Tyler explains the factors that led to the dismal ranking:
WalletHub’s data ranges from assaults per capita to the financial losses from climate disasters per resident, as well as economic factors such as unemployment. … A closer look at Louisiana’s ranking reveals a personal and residential safety rank of 38, financial safety rank of 50, road safety rank of 36, workplace safety rank of 36 and a emergency preparedness rank of 49.
Number of the Day
47% – Percentage of U.S. adults who are “not very” or “not at all confident” they could find a good job if they wanted to, up from 37% from October 2023. (Source: Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research)