This article was originally published by The Tennessean
By Angele Latham
Another lawsuit has been filed in Tennessee challenging the state’s new congressional redistricting, which eliminates the state's lone majority-Black and traditionally Democratic congressional district in Memphis.
The League of Women Voters of Tennessee, along with the NAACP, other civil rights organizations and several individuals, filed a federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s map, which the filings call “racially discriminatory,” arguing the map “unlawfully dilutes the voting strength of Black Tennesseans and undermines fair representation.”
“By dismantling communities and manipulating district lines for political advantage, this map undermines the core promise of our democracy: that every voter’s voice carries equal weight,” said Marcia Johnson, chief of activation and justice for the League of Women Voters. “The League of Women Voters is proud to stand with the NAACP in challenging this unconstitutional map and defending the fundamental right of voters to participate in free and fair elections.”
The lawsuit also challenges the way the map was approved, stating it was “pushed” through the legislative process in just three days of legislative action, with “minimal transparency, little opportunity for meaningful public input, and despite repeated warnings that it would weaken Black political representation.”
The lawsuit is now the fourth filed in response to the state’s redistricting. It is in addition to the previously filed NAACP lawsuit, which was filed in state court on May 7. Two additional lawsuits against the map have also been filed in the last week, from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tennessee Democratic Party.
"This lawsuit goes to the heart of our democracy," said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, regarding the May 13 lawsuit. "Tennessee lawmakers made a deliberate choice to silence Black voters by dismantling a district that has long ensured representation for one of the state's largest Black populations. We are at the dawn of a new Jim Crow era.”
The Tennessee Attorney General’s office declined to comment on the matter.
Lawsuit alleges that map was created with the intention of racial discrimination
The session came days after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Voting Rights Act in late April, the crowning achievement of the Civil Rights movement.
The ruling weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the provision that protected majority Black congressional districts from being carved up to dilute Black voting power — essentially making it illegal to carve districts by race.
Quickly after the decision, President Donald Trump called Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and pushed for a special session, as the ruling gives Trump and the Republican Party an opening to keep power in the upcoming national midterms by redrawing districts to favor themselves.
"It is time for us to cement President Trump's agenda. That is what the American people voted for," Blackburn said in a video on May 1. "Tennesseans want to make certain that we keep Tennessee red."
Tennessee law forbids redistricting between census apportionments, which happen every 10 years. In order for the new district maps to be legal, Tennessee lawmakers repealed that law during the special session.
The new map was not unveiled to the public until the second day of the session, and was the focus of numerous efforts by Democrat lawmakers to unveil how the maps were created and by whom.
Republican lawmakers voted down multiple attempts to offer that transparency.
The May 13 lawsuit calls out the purpose of the redrawing, noting that the change “did not result from any action by the Census Bureau… any mandate from a court,” and the governor “cited no dramatic shift in population since the 2020 Census that rendered the current maps unrepresentative.”
“The pat claim that the Legislature was merely seeking partisan advantage rings hollow,” the lawsuit states. “Aside from the false statement about the source of data on which the Legislature relied, the Legislature could have achieved similar partisan results without so drastically carving up a majority Black city, separating communities of interest, and isolating Black urban residents in districts anchored by white rural communities with whom they do not share socio-economic needs or interests.”
The plaintiffs are seeking the judge to prohibit any elections under the new map, and order the state to remedy the “impermissible voter dilution” of the newly drawn 9th district.
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