BATON ROUGE — A coalition of Black lawmakers went to court Monday hoping to convince a judge that Louisiana's attorney general was obligated to defend a congressional district map that led to the state electing two Democrats to the U.S. House last year. The judge refused.

Lawmakers last year approved an election map that created two majority-Black districts among the state's six. The one-third balance generally mirrors the racial makeup of the state.

Attorney General Liz Murrill had initially defended the map while asking for more clarification on how states should handle redistricting. Now, she is arguing against race-based redistricting. That position could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that address the use of race when setting out dist

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