Federal judge considers whether Georgia’s new political district maps still dilute Black voting power

ATLANTA (CN) — A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday on whether Georgia legislators complied with his order to draw new political districts after he ruled previous maps violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting power.

In October, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones tossed Georgia’s current congressional and legislative district maps created by the Republican-led General Assembly in 2021, after finding they failed to provide adequate opportunities for Black voters. The state's Black voter population has surged since 2010 while the number of white voters declined.

Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity — a historically Black fraternity often active in civil rights causes — and other plaintiffs brought the case against Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last year, claiming that the redrawn maps fail to follow the judge's order.

Under Jones' order, lawmakers were instructed to create seven new majority-Black legislative districts, comprised of two state Senate districts and five House districts with Black majorities in the Atlanta and Macon areas. They were also ordered to create one new majority-Black congressional district in the west metro Atlanta area, where the Black population quadrupled between 2000 and 2020.

The new maps, which keep Republican control over the state's legislature and congressional delegation, were signed into law on Dec. 8 by Governor Brian Kemp.

Abha Khanna of Elias Law Group, attorney for the plaintiffs, said that the state shifted Black voters into areas where voting power was not found to be diluted, instead of creating an “additional district in which Black voters have an opportunity to elect their preferred candidates.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the new proposed maps not only continue to dilute Black voting power, but weaken it for other minority groups in the state as well. Their argument highlighted changes made to congressional district 7, where they argued the state dismantled a "minority opportunity district" of predominately nonwhite and Democratic voters, to one that has a white voter population of more than 75% and is likely to become Republican.

However, Jones emphasized that the groups did not raise that objection in their original complaint, and that his order is focused on Black voters. The Barack Obama appointee pointed out the need for the state to have new maps prepared by Jan. 16 in order to meet deadlines for the upcoming election cycle.

He specified that they could not remediate the found violations by eliminating any existing “minority opportunity districts,” generally defined as areas where racial minority groups are able to elect their preferred candidates by attracting some support from white voters.

Bryan Tyson, an attorney for the secretary of state's office, told the judge he was "at a loss to what the General Assembly did wrong." He argued that the maps were redrawn in compliance with his order because the state increased the amount of Black voters in majority-Black districts.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Ari Savitzky noted that the redrawn maps also fail to provide additional opportunities for Black representation in the U.S. House, leaving in place the GOP’s 9-5 advantage among Georgia’s congressional delegation.

Savitzky argued that while the state drew additional Black-majority districts, it did so by moving Black voters outside of the areas where the plaintiffs had proved Black voting power was being harmed. He suggested the appointment of a special master to aid in creating the new maps.

"This isn't a new opportunity for Black voters in south metro Atlanta," Savitzky said. "It's a shell game."

While the number of majority-Black districts is increased from two to four under the state's proposed maps, nine districts remain majority-white, the same amount as Georgia’s current districts.

Several state Democratic representatives attended the hourslong hearing including Viola Davis, Becky Evans, Saira Draper and Sam Park.

"The judge ordered that we draw additional majority-Black districts for congress, the state senate and the state house. They did that, but they violated a very specific part of Judge Jones' order by dismantling coalition districts, majority minority districts, in which Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Black voters vote together to elect their candidate of choice," said Park, who represents District 107.

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