Sep 27, 2024 Story by: Editor
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A coalition of voting and civil rights advocates in Tennessee has decided not to refile a federal lawsuit that alleged the state’s U.S. House map and state Senate boundaries constitute unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
In a news release issued on Friday, the plaintiffs, whose case was dismissed last month, expressed that they are facing “new, substantial and unjust standards to prove racial gerrymandering,” following a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning South Carolina’s political maps.
When a three-judge panel dismissed the lawsuit, they offered the plaintiffs the opportunity to amend and refile their complaint if they could “plausibly disentangle race from politics.”
Despite this setback, the plaintiffs are encouraging participation in the upcoming election on November 5, highlighting Tennessee’s low voter turnout. The deadline for voter registration was October 7, with early voting set to commence on October 16.
“We made a difficult decision to forgo further litigation, but this is not a retreat by any means,” said Gloria Sweet-Love, president of the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP, in the release. “We know we will soon drive out the discrimination and racist practices that silence the voices of too many of us in Tennessee at the ballot box.”
This lawsuit marked the first legal challenge to Tennessee’s congressional redistricting map, which Republican lawmakers utilized to fragment Democratic-leaning Nashville to secure a seat for the GOP in the 2022 elections. Critics argued this tactic was aimed at undermining the influence of Black voters and other communities of color in one of the state’s few Democratic strongholds.
The lawsuit also contested state Senate District 31 in majority-Black Shelby County, which includes part of Memphis, using similar arguments that indicated an increase in the white voting-age population under the new maps. Currently, a Republican occupies that seat.
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that issues surrounding partisan gerrymandering are not within its jurisdiction, directing such claims to state courts under their respective constitutions and laws. Recently, the court upheld South Carolina’s congressional map in a 6-3 decision, stating that the state General Assembly did not consider race when drawing the districts based on the 2020 Census.
Following Nashville’s division into three congressional districts, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper opted not to seek reelection, asserting that he could not win under the new configuration. Ultimately, Rep. John Rose secured reelection with a margin of approximately 33 percentage points, Rep. Mark Green won another term by 22 points, and Rep. Andy Ogles captured his first term by 13 points in Cooper’s former district.
Currently, Tennessee’s congressional delegation includes eight Republicans and just one Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis.
The plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit comprise the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP, the African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee, the Equity Alliance, the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute, the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, and several individual Tennessee voters.
Additionally, Tennessee’s state legislative maps are facing another lawsuit based on state constitutional grounds, with oral arguments scheduled to be heard by the Tennessee Supreme Court next week. Source: AP News
