Georgia fights to restore maps found to dilute Black voting power

ATLANTA (CN) — A federal appeals court heard arguments Thursday from Georgia’s secretary of state that his office did not violate the Voting Rights Act and discriminate against Black voters with its congressional and legislative maps.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, appealed a ruling that found the state’s 2021 political district maps minimized or canceled out Black voters’ ability to elect their preferred candidates in Black-majority areas.

State Attorney Stephen Petrany told an 11th Circuit panel that Black voters only suffer electoral losses in Georgia because their preferred candidates are Democrats.

While Petrany agreed that Georgia’s enacted maps are intended to further partisan goals and maintain a Republican hold, the Supreme Court has held that partisan gerrymandering is outside the reach of federal courts.

But U.S. Circuit Judge Robin Rosenbaum pushed back against the state’s claims that partisanship, not race, is controlling voting patterns in Georgia.

“The district court made factual finings that the race issue and partisan issue were sort of inextricably intertwined because of the historical evidence submitted during the proceedings,” the Barack Obama appointee said. “So, you’d have to show they were actually erroneous.”

Rosenbaum pointed to U.S. District Judge Steve Jones’ finding that there is a meaningful difference in Black candidate success depending on the percentage of white voters in a district. In his ruling, Jones said the evidence presented at trial showed that when the white voter percentage is lowest, Black Democratic candidates have the most success. But as the percentage of white voters increases, the success of Black candidates decreases.

“Why doesn’t that support the district court’s finding that race was primarily responsible?” Rosenbaum asked.

Petrany argued that race and partisanship are not correlated and should be disentangled from one another.

U.S. Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa appeared persuaded by the state’s example of Raphael Warnock, a Black Democrat who was twice elected to the U.S. Senate after defeating both Kelly Loeffler, a white Republican candidate, and then Hershel Walker, a Black Republican.

“Isn’t that the best evidence that it is partisan and not racial?” the Donald Trump appointee asked.

However, Rosenbaum said that argument ignores the state’s history and the 230 years of exclusively white senators before Warnock became the first Black senator to represent Georgia in 2020.

She noted the lower court’s finding that disproportionate educational, employment, living conditions and income levels arising from past discrimination show that existing socioeconomic disparities between Black and white Georgians repress Black voter political participation.

“We can’t ignore the role race historically plays here,” said Rosenbaum.

The plaintiffs in the case, including Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, a historically Black fraternity active in civil rights causes, claimed the enacted maps diminished Black voting power by failing to increase the number of Black majority districts in the metro Atlanta area, after the 2020 census showed increased Black population growth.

Even after Jones ordered state legislators in October 2023 to redraw the maps to include an additional, majority-Black congressional district in the west-metro Atlanta area, they challenged the new district lines.

They claimed Georgia’s Republican-led General Assembly merely reshuffled Black voters instead of creating a new, demonstrable opportunity district, but Jones ultimately concluded they had “fully complied” with his orders.

While the state added districts with a majority of Black voters under the redrawn maps, it changed little in partisan representation and kept Republicans in control of the state’s legislature and congressional delegation.

The case is one of many playing out across Southern states in which Republicans are defending congressional maps that judges have deemed discriminatory.

In June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that Alabama’s 2021 congressional map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting power in the state. It later rejected Alabama’s attempt to circumvent the redraw of its congressional maps to include a second Black majority district.

U.S. Circuit Judge Charles Wilson, a Bill Clinton appointee, rounded out the panel. They did not signal when they will issue a ruling.

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