Judge tells Georgia to redraw voting maps
ATLANTA — A federal judge ruled Thursday that some of Georgia’s congressional, state Senate, and state House districts were drawn in a racially discriminatory manner, ordering the state to draw an additional Black-majority congressional district.
US District Judge Steve Jones, in a 516-page order, also ordered the state to draw two new Black-majority districts in Georgia’s 56-member state Senate and five new Black-majority districts in its 180-member state House.
Jones’s ruling follows an eight-day September trial in which the plaintiffs argued that Black voters are still fighting opposition from white voters and need federal help to get a fair shot, while the state argued court intervention on behalf of Black voters wasn’t needed.
“Georgia has made great strides since 1965 toward equality in voting,” Jones wrote. “However, the evidence before this court shows that Georgia has not reached the point where the political process has equal openness and equal opportunity for everyone.”
Jones ordered Georgia’s Republican majority General Assembly and governor to take action before Dec. 8, saying he would redraw districts if lawmakers did not, and that he would not allow the 2024 elections to be conducted using districts he has found to be “unlawful.” That would require a special session, as lawmakers aren’t scheduled to meet again until January.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Chris Carr, whose office defended the plans in court, declined comment, saying lawyers were still reading the ruling. A spokesperson for Governor Brian Kemp didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Jones’s order explicitly anticipates an appeal by the state.
A new map could shift one of Georgia’s 14 congressional seats from Republican to Democratic control. GOP lawmakers redrew the congressional map from an 8-6 Republican majority to a 9-5 Republican majority in 2021. Jones ruled that lawmakers could not eliminate minority opportunity districts elsewhere when they redraw maps.