FILE – The Tennessee House of Representatives convenes on October 27, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
Aug 22, 2024 Story by: Editor
A federal judicial panel has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed Tennessee’s U.S. House and state Senate maps were examples of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
“In sum, the complaint alleges facts that are consistent with a racial gerrymander,” the ruling, issued Wednesday, stated. “But the facts are also consistent with a political gerrymander.”
This lawsuit was the first legal challenge against Tennessee’s 2022 congressional redistricting map, which divided the Democratic stronghold of Nashville to help Republicans secure a seat in last year’s election. Critics argued this move was designed to weaken the voting power of Black communities and other minority groups.
The lawsuit also took aim at the new boundaries of state Senate District 31, located in majority-Black Shelby County, which includes parts of Memphis. Plaintiffs claimed the redrawn map increased the white voting-age population, leading to a Republican winning the seat.
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering disputes were not under its jurisdiction, relegating such claims to state courts. More recently, the high court upheld South Carolina’s congressional map in a 6-3 ruling, stating that race was not a factor in the state’s redistricting based on the 2020 Census.
The plaintiffs in Tennessee’s case included groups like the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP, the African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee, the Equity Alliance, the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, and several individual voters, including former Democratic state Sen. Brenda Gilmore.
After Nashville was split into three congressional districts, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper chose not to run for reelection, citing the unlikelihood of winning under the new district lines. In the 2022 elections, Rep. John Rose was reelected by a 33-point margin, Rep. Mark Green won by 22 points, and Rep. Andy Ogles secured his first term by 13 points in Cooper’s former district.
As a result, Tennessee now has eight Republicans in the U.S. House, with only one remaining Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen, representing Memphis.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs argued that minority voters in the Nashville area lost their “candidates of choice” in the 2022 congressional elections.
The judges responded that the lawsuit needed to “more than plausibly allege that Tennessee’s legislators knew that their Republican-friendly map would harm voters who preferred Democratic candidates—including the higher percentage of minority voters who preferred those candidates.”
While the judges rejected Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s argument that the plaintiffs had waited too long to file their case, they ruled that the plaintiffs did not need to propose an alternative map in their legal challenge. The dismissal allows the plaintiffs to refile the case within 30 days, provided they can “plausibly disentangle race from politics.”
Republicans welcomed the ruling, with House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s office issuing a statement saying, “We’re happy to have resolution on this matter so that we can focus on what’s ahead for Tennessee.”
The ruling also briefly addressed ongoing controversies within the Republican-controlled Statehouse, where Democrats have accused GOP lawmakers of racial discrimination in both legislative policies and recent actions.
The plaintiffs highlighted several incidents, including the brief expulsion of two young Black Democratic lawmakers and the passage of legislation aimed at reducing Nashville’s left-leaning city council, as evidence of “discriminatory motive.”
The court, however, dismissed these examples as having “little to do with redistricting” but acknowledged they suggest the “possibility of misconduct.”
Tennessee’s state legislative maps continue to face a separate legal challenge on state constitutional grounds. Source: AP News
