Current:Home > NewsJudge says Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts are discriminatory and must be redrawn-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Judge says Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts are discriminatory and must be redrawn
View Date:2024-12-23 19:45:08
ATLANTA (AP) — 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.
U.S. 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 ordered Georgia’s Republican majority General Assembly and governor to take action before Dec. 8, saying he wouldn’t permit 2024 elections to go forward under the current maps. That would require a special session, as lawmakers aren’t scheduled to meet again until January.
Jones’ ruling follows a 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.
The move 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.
The Georgia case is part of a wave of litigation after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year stood behind its interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, rejecting a challenge to the law by Alabama.
Courts in Alabama and Florida ruled recently that Republican-led legislatures had unfairly diluted the voting power of Black residents. Legal challenges to congressional districts are also ongoing in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
Orders to draw new legislative districts could narrow Republican majorities in the state House and Senate. But on their own, those changes are unlikely to lead to a Democratic takeover.
Jones wrote that he conducted a “thorough and sifting review” of the evidence in the case before concluding that Georgia violated the Voting Rights Act in enacting the current congressional and legislative maps.
He wrote that he “commends Georgia for the great strides that it has made to increase the political opportunities of Black voters in the 58 years” since that law was passed in 1965. But despite those gains, he determined that “in certain areas of the State, the political process is not equally open to Black voters.”
But Jones noted that despite the fact that all of the state’s population growth over the last decade was attributable to the minority population, the number of congressional and legislative districts with a Black majority remained the same.
That echoes a key contention of the plaintiffs, who argued repeatedly that the state added nearly 500,000 Black residents between 2010 and 2020 but drew no new Black-majority state Senate districts and only two additional Black-majority state House districts. They also said Georgia should have another Black majority congressional district.
veryGood! (1156)
Related
- Vermont man is fit to stand trial over shooting of 3 Palestinian college students
- Monday through Friday, business casual reigns in US offices. Here's how to make it work.
- UAW leader says Trump would send the labor movement into reverse if he’s elected again
- How did Simone Biles do today? Star gymnast adds another gold in vault final
- Why Amanda Seyfried Traded Living in Hollywood for Life on a Farm in Upstate New York
- The 20 Best Amazon Fashion Deals Right Now: $7.40 Shorts, $8.50 Tank Tops, $13 Maxi Dresses & More
- Love Island USA's Nicole Jacky Says Things Have Not Been Easy in Cryptic Social Media Return
- U.S. defense secretary rejects plea deal for 9/11 mastermind, puts death penalty back on table
- Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn Coming Out of Retirement at 40
- Police search huge NYC migrant shelter for ‘dangerous contraband’ as residents wait in summer heat
Ranking
- Target will be closed on Thanksgiving: Here’s when stores open on Black Friday
- USWNT vs. Japan highlights: Trinity Rodman lifts USA in extra time of Olympics quarters
- That's not my cat... but, maybe I want it to be? Inside the cat distribution system
- Team USA rowing men's eight takes bronze medal at Paris Olympics
- Jack Del Rio leaving Wisconsin’s staff after arrest on charge of operating vehicle while intoxicated
- Class is in Session at Nordstrom Rack's 2024 Back-to-College Sale: Score Huge Savings Up to 85% Off
- Meta to pay Texas $1.4 billion in 'historic settlement' over biometric data allegations
- WWE SummerSlam 2024 live results: Match card, what to know for PPV in Cleveland
Recommendation
-
Dallas Long, who won 2 Olympic medals while dominating the shot put in the 1960s, has died at 84
-
Are we in a recession? The Sahm rule explained
-
Christina Hall, Rachel Bilson and More Stars Who’ve Shared Their Co-Parenting Journeys
-
Olympic Muffin Man's fame not from swimming, but TikTok reaction 'unreal'
-
Jana Kramer’s Ex Mike Caussin Shares Resentment Over Her Child Support Payments
-
There's good reason to root for the South Koreans to medal in Olympic men's golf
-
How Noah Lyles plans to become track's greatest showman at Paris Olympics and beyond
-
International Seabed Authority elects new secretary general amid concerns over deep-sea mining