U.S. District Steve Jones gave legislators until Dec. 8 to enact
a new map that includes an additional district with a Black
majority or near-majority, which would likely flip a Republican
seat to Democrats.
Republicans won nine of the state's 14 U.S. House of
Representative districts in the 2022 elections, which took place
under the map that Jones invalidated.
The litigation is among several redistricting cases across the
U.S. that could help determine which party takes control of the
House in next year's congressional elections. Democrats need to
add only five seats nationally to wrest back the House majority
they lost in 2022.
The Georgia ruling comes four months after the U.S. Supreme
Court found that Alabama's Republican-drawn map illegally harmed
Black voters. A panel of federal judges has since approved a new
map that added a near-majority-Black district to the state's
lone majority Black district.
Jones also ordered lawmakers to revise the state's state Senate
and House maps as well.
Shortly after Thursday's decision, which followed a two-week
trial in September, Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp
issued a call for a special legislative session beginning Nov.
29 to redraw the state's voting maps.
An appeal is likely, however. In a statement, the Republican
leadership of the state Senate said, "Obviously, we strongly
disagree with the ruling and expect that all legal options will
be explored to maintain the maps as passed by the legislature."
In a 516-page ruling, Jones noted that over the past decade, the
state's population growth was entirely attributable to its
minority residents. Nevertheless, he said, the state's
congressional and legislative maps did not add more
majority-Black districts.
Despite "great strides" in providing Black voters more
opportunities over the decades, Jones wrote, "the political
process is not equally open to Black voters."
In a statement, Gloria Butler, the Democratic minority leader in
the state Senate, said, "I applaud the district court's decision
ordering Georgia to draw maps compliant with the Voting Rights
Act."
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Alistair Bell and Daniel
Wallis)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](column_spacer.png)
|
|