Hearing set in federal lawsuit over Cobb school board map

Apr. 17—A federal judge has set a June hearing for the lawsuit challenging the Cobb County Board of Education's new redistricting map.

The hearing stems from a motion filed by an attorney from Cumberland-based Freeman Mathis & Gary, the firm the Cobb County School District hired to represent it in the lawsuit.

Since late November, the firm has represented the school district in the lawsuit over the map passed by the General Assembly last year.

Every 10 years, the school board maps undergo redistricting to account for changes in population and to ensure that each district is equally represented on the board.

Philip Savrin, the firm's attorney representing CCSD in the suit, filed a motion on March 31 requesting judgment in the case.

In the motion seeking judgment, Savrin criticized the argument that the district could be held responsible for the General Assembly's actions.

"It has no basis whatsoever in law or fact," Savrin wrote. "For that to be the case the Board of Education would have to have been making decisions for the General Assembly which is an absurd proposition."

The hearing on the request for judgment is set for June 22, with U.S. District Court Judge Eleanor Ross to preside over the case in her Atlanta courtroom.

The lawsuit

The Cobb Board of Elections was initially named as the defendant in the case. But the elections board has usually presented itself as a neutral party in such lawsuits.

In December, the school district asked to be added to the case in order to defend itself against the allegations of the lawsuit, first filed in the Northern District of Georgia in June by a coalition of civil rights and left-leaning groups, alongside several Cobb parents, alleging the map disenfranchised voters of color.

The map redrawing the boundaries of the seven-member board was supported by its Republicans, who hold a 4-3 majority on the school board.

An amended lawsuit filed in August accused the board's four white, Republican members — David Banks, David Chastain, Randy Scamihorn and Brad Wheeler — of continuing "their pattern and practice of subjecting the Black Board members and their constituents of color to racially disparate policies enacted along racial lines" through the redistricting process.

The amended lawsuit also accused the four white members of passing a consultant-drawn map, without revisions, over the objections of the board's three Black, Democratic members — Dr. Jaha Howard, Charisse Davis and Leroy Tre' Hutchins. (Howard and Davis have since stepped off the board and were replaced by Becky Sayler and Nichelle Davis.)

"In drawing the Plan, race predominated, with Black and Latinx voters being packed into three Challenged Districts to dilute their political power," it said.

The filers of the lawsuit asked the court to declare Districts 2, 3 and 6 — held by the board's three Democrats — unconstitutional and direct the state to come up with a new map.

"Cobb County has rapidly grown more diverse over the last decade," Rahul Garabadu, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, said at the time of the initial filing. "But instead of celebrating this diversity, the Cobb County School Board has weaponized race to draw a map that purposely diminishes the voices of Black and Latinx voters. Our clients are taking Cobb County to court to fight for maps that represent the interests of all children."

The request for judgement from the school district strikes a combative tone from a different perspective, stating the lawsuit "arises from a purely political dispute" between the board's four Republicans and three Democrats.

"Plaintiffs, who consist of alleged 'non-partisan' organizations that in reality promote partisan Democratic causes, and individuals they recruited who are also partisan Democrats, are upset that the effect of the redistricting process did not align with their preferred outcome: a Democratic takeover of the Board of Education," the motion said.

The lawyers

The legal challenge of the maps was made on behalf of several groups, including the League of Women Voters of Marietta-Cobb, the New Georgia Project Action Fund and the Georgia NAACP, along with several Cobb parents, according to the initial filing.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and the law firm Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP.

Meanwhile, CCSD first hired Freeman Mathis & Gary in November to represent the district in the suit.

On Thursday, the school board voted to approve additional expenditures, according to board member Randy Scamihorn.

"The total amount owed has increased, and we just needed to vote to authorize the increased amount," Scamihorn told the MDJ.

Following an executive session, the board voted 6-0-1 during its Thursday evening meeting to approve "all expenditures for the representation" of the firm, with board member Becky Sayler abstaining.

Sayler declined to comment for this article. Her campaign website lists the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of the organizations that endorsed her candidacy for Cobb school board.

The board did not divulge the cost of the firm's legal services at the time. The MDJ has filed an open records request for details of the latest contract between the district and Freeman Mathis & Gary.

However, as the MDJ reported in January, the billing rates for the firm's representation are as follows:

— Partner, senior counsel, of counsel: $375 per hour

— Counsel or associate: $325 per hour

— Paralegal or law clerk: $165 per hour

Pushback

The allegations of racial discrimination in the school board redistricting process have been forcefully rejected by both Republican school board members and state Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-west Cobb, who carried the map in the General Assembly.

(Ehrhart's husband, former state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, is the managing director of Freeman Mathis Decisions, Freeman Mathis & Gary's government relations arm).

At the time of the lawsuit's filing, Ehrhart told the MDJ the map complies with the Constitution and Voting Rights Act and ensures "local control, equal representation, and the stability of the district as a whole."

In January, Ben Mathis, managing partner at Freeman Mathis & Gary, said the filers' attempt to sue the Board of Elections was "an obvious backdoor tactic, that they seemingly wanted to reach a result before the school district had any opportunity to defend what had happened.

"They are being sued and accused of racial discrimination, and it's not true. The organizations behind this are partisan, and we believe there's nothing but a partisan motive. They know there's no evidence of any racial discrimination," Mathis said. "...This is not a claim that you normally see, where they're saying there's some technical deficiency in the Voting Rights Act. ... This is just a crass use of the discrimination statute for a partisan purpose.

"The people on the school board have taken so much abuse the last few years, and you can see that in false allegations repeated in the complaint. And it's a privilege to be able to defend them," he added.