Councillor At-Large Ruthzee Louijeune on Sunday expressed confidence in the redistricting map she steered to Mayor Wu’s desk for a signature after plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the previous map raised concerns in a filing with the judge.

On May 24, the City Council voted 10 to 2 to approve a map with new boundaries for the nine City Council districts. They were forced to come up with a new map when a federal judge blocked the one passed last fall, ruling that a lawsuit claiming that race wrongly predominated the council’s discussions in moving precincts between districts had a likelihood of success.

The lawsuit was brought by several local civic associations, former city clerk and councillor Maureen Feeney, and a former Boston Herald columnist, and funded by four councillors who opposed last fall’s map: District 2’s Ed Flynn, District 3’s Frank Baker, and Councillors At-Large Michael Flaherty and Erin Murphy. (One of the plaintiffs is also Flaherty’s aunt, who has previously worked for him, according to a review of publicly available campaign finance records.)

The four councillors endorsed the new map as city officials raced against time to keep the fall elections on schedule for Sept. 12 and Nov. 7. But in a filing last Friday afternoon, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said that while they were “largely pleased” with the new map, they wanted Judge Patti Saris to review the location of two precincts. They claimed the precincts were “surreptitiously” swapped, even though the moves were voted on in public and the two councillors who voted against the May 24 map – District 6 Councillor Kendra Lara and Councillor At-Large Julia Mejia – approvingly noted one of the moves in a joint public statement published online and sent to reporters.

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The two precincts are Ward 14 Precinct 14, which stayed in District 5, as councillors abandoned shifting it to District 4, and Ward 15 Precinct 1, which was moved to District 4 from District 3.

The plaintiffs’ filing noted that District 5 Councillor Ricardo Arroyo had lobbied for Ward 14-Precinct 14 (along Blue Hill Avenue, around Morningstar Baptist Church) to stay in District 5. Arroyo argued that moving Ward 14 Precinct 14 to District 4 would dilute the Mattapan neighborhood’s power and Black voting strength.

The filing added that moving Ward 15 Precinct 1, which is anchored by the intersection of Columbia Road and Quincy Street and the Uphams Corner Health Center, to District 4 negatively affects the Cape Verdean community that had been “previously all unified in District 3.”

According to the filers, “There was no reason to move Ward 15 Precinct 1 from District 3 to District 4 and Ward 14 Precinct 14 into District 5 except to achieve racial targets or demographic goals.”

The filing omits the fact that Arroyo’s argument for keeping Ward 14 Precinct 14 also carried political implications: He won the precinct while losing the 2022 race for Suffolk District Attorney, and he is now seeking reelection to the council with opponents expected to be on the ballot. Arroyo also sought to remove a Roslindale precinct from District 5, home to DA Kevin Hayden, but he lacked enough support from colleagues.

The plaintiffs noted that the changes they’re requesting “will have no significant impact on the administration of elections later this year" if the judge chooses to implement them.

On Sunday, before she headed down Dorchester Avenue for the annual Dot Day Parade, Louijeune, who chaired the drawing of the latest map, said it was a “good compromise. I think the court may weigh in, but I feel good about the work we did on the City Council, and about the vote we took, and about the map that we came to.”

Flaherty, who had spoken with the Reporter minutes earlier while also getting ready to kick off the Dot Day Parade, acknowledged that keeping Ward 14 Precinct 14 in District 5 was “probably” politically based. “I think in the interest of trying to bring the council together, folks felt that it was somewhat of a fair compromise,” he said. “That said, what’s a fair compromise for members of the City Council, and what the plaintiffs…wanted are obviously two different things.”

He added: “We did hear this week from the Cape Verdean community and several of the civic association leaders in Ward 15 Precinct 1 that they’re the only Dorchester precinct that’s not in Dorchester. So, we’ll see what happens.” (Neighborhood lines do not change in redistricting, and both District 3 and District 4 remain Dorchester-based council districts, with District 4 having some of Mattapan and District 3 having some of the South End.)

“The city of Boston’s corporation counsel, through their budget, are funding not one, but two law firms” to defend the council’s map, Flaherty said, adding that he is listed as a defendant as a member of the City Council, even though he testified against last fall’s map and helped fund the plaintiffs’ efforts.

The plaintiffs are “ordinary” citizens, he said. “Given that they’re constituents, yeah, [I’m] happy to lend a hand there.”

Flaherty said he has not spoken with the plaintiffs or their attorneys, and added that they did not consult him on their Friday filing.