Judge rules against civil rights groups in Georgia redistricting appeal

A federal district court judge ruled on Thursday that new maps for Georgia’s House, Senate and Congressional districts complied with an order issued on Oct. 26 that sought to give greater power to Black voters. The maps will be allowed to take effect for the upcoming 2024 election season.

"The committee hearing transcripts show that the General Assembly created the 2023 Remedial Plans in a manner that politically protected the majority party (i.e., the Republican Party) as much as possible," Judge Steve C. Jones wrote in his ruling. "However, redistricting decisions by a legislative body with an eye toward securing partisan advantage do not alone violate Section 2."

The court also noted that even if the maps are not the same as those preferred by the plaintiffs, the power to redraw legislative districts must remain with the state legislature "absent a choice that is either unconstitutional or otherwise illegal under federal law."

Lawyers for the plaintiffs have condemned the verdict.

“We are deeply disappointed that the court allowed the General Assembly’s remedial state legislative maps to be used in the 2024 election cycle," said ACLU of Georgia senior voting rights attorney Rahul Garabadu in a statement after the ruling was released. "As we recently noted in court, we believe that these maps continue to violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and dilute the voting strength of Black voters. But no matter what, our fight to ensure fair voting practices in Georgia will continue.”

Due to the upcoming 2024 election, the window of opportunity to redraw the maps is rapidly closing. During a Dec. 20 hearing, the Georgia Secretary of State's office said the new district lines must be finalized by Jan. 29 to allow county registrars enough time to update their information for the March 12 primary.

Redistricting: Civil rights groups urge judge to throw out 2023 maps in Dec. 20 hearing

The new maps, which were created during a special session held Nov. 29 to Dec. 7, redrew district lines from 2021 that plaintiffs in three separate lawsuits say violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by illegally diluting the power of Black voters, particularly those in the southern and western parts of metro Atlanta. Judge Jones ordered the lines to be redrawn to include an additional Black-majority congressional district, two additional Black-majority state Senate districts, and five additional Black-majority state House districts. Crucially, he ordered that the new plans cannot eliminate “minority opportunity districts” elsewhere in the state, a phrase that Republican and Democratic lawmakers interpreted differently.

The new maps passed a Republican-controlled state legislature and were signed into law by Gov. Kemp on Dec. 8 before appearing before the court for review. Although the state legislators insisted that their newly-drawn districts complied with Jones’s order, critics argued that they do not go far enough to remedy the vote dilution experienced by Black voters, as many of the Black-majority districts were drawn in areas outside of those specified in Jones’s order. Additionally, the new House and Senate maps largely maintain the existing Democratic/Republican split in the state legislature, and the new congressional maps disassembled District 7, a minority-majority coalition district currently represented by Rep. Lucy McBath.

The redrawn maps were widely condemned by voting rights groups including the NAACP, the League of Women Voters of Georgia, and the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples' Agenda, who filed an amici curiae brief opposing the plans and urging the court to appoint a special master who could redraw the districts with input from the public.

The plaintiffs hinted at a plan to appeal the Court’s decision, meaning that the case could rise to the Supreme Court.

“Georgia’s new Senate and House district lines still dilute Black voting power," Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. "They don’t provide a complete fix for the injuries to Black voters that we proved in court. Federal law requires an end to vote dilution everywhere and a real change for injured voters, not reshuffling the same deck. We are evaluating all of our options and will continue to hold the General Assembly accountable until Georgia voters get the maps they deserve.”

The ruling comes at a pivotal time for voting rights lawsuits nationwide. In November, a federal appeals court for the 8th circuit ruled that private individuals and groups can no longer sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, meaning only the federal government can pursue voting rights complaints. The ruling currently only applies to federal courts in the 8th circuit, such as Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. However, critics have pointed out that the vast majority of voting rights cases are the result of lawsuits by groups and private individuals, and that the Justice Department may not have the resources to properly investigate every Voting Rights Act violation. Had the 8th circuit court ruling applied to Georgia, none of the three cases mentioned in the redistricting hearing would have been allowed to move forward.

The Georgia Secretary of State's office did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Federal judge approves Georgia redistricting maps for 2024 elections