NAACP Sues Tennessee Republicans Over New U.S. House Map Splitting Memphis Majority-Black District

Tennessee Republicans enacted a new U.S. House map in a three-day special session that Gov. Bill Lee signed into law on Thursday, carving up Memphis and Shelby County’s majority-Black district into three Republican-controlled districts ahead of the 2026 election cycle.

“The NAACP filed an emergency lawsuit Thursday seeking to block Tennessee’s new congressional gerrymander, arguing the GOP’s rushed effort to dismantle the state’s lone majority-Black district was not only racist but outright illegal under Tennessee law and the state constitution”

Democracy Docket

The NAACP Tennessee State Conference filed an emergency lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking to block the redistricting plan, arguing it unlawfully weakens Black political representation and violates Tennessee law and the Tennessee Constitution.

Democracy Docket

The dispute is tied to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision weakening a key section of the Voting Rights Act, and the NAACP says the special session did not specifically authorize repealing or suspending Tennessee’s mid-decade redistricting prohibition.

In the House vote, protesters shouted “No Jim Crow” outside the chambers as Democratic lawmakers locked arms and protesters in the gallery yelled, chanted and blew air horns, while the new map went to Lee for final approval.

The NAACP’s petition also challenges legislation suspending residency requirements for congressional candidates in the 2026 election, warning the accelerated timeline could create confusion for voters and strain election officials ahead of the 2026 primaries.

NAACP General Counsel Kristen Clarke said, “A democracy without Black representation is not a democracy. It is a direct attack on our democracy and our Constitution to dismantle majority-Black districts,” as the organization sought to stop the map from going into effect.

The Tennessee Lookout reported that NAACP Tennessee President Gloria Sweet-Love filed an emergency petition to stop the map from going into effect in Davidson County Chancery Court less than three hours after Lee signed the new map into law.

Detroit Free Press

Democrats and voting-rights advocates argued the rushed process could confuse voters and impose administrative hurdles for election officials, while Republicans defended the map as a partisan strategy aimed at creating an all-Republican congressional delegation.

The New York Times described the final vote in the state House as “noisy chaos,” with Democrats and demonstrators drowning out the tally with loud noisemakers, yells and alarms, and said demonstrators yelled “hands off Memphis” in the State Senate.

TheGrio’s page did not provide substantive details beyond a block notice, while other outlets framed the same core dispute as a legal challenge to the map’s legality and timing.

The NAACP lawsuit asks a judge to declare the new congressional maps invalid and block the state from implementing them in future elections, with the filing warning that the timeline could compress candidate qualifying and complicate ballot and precinct changes.

“UPDATE: Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has signed into law a new U”

Local 3 News

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett announced revised congressional maps are now in effect and opened a special qualifying period for congressional candidates through May 15, while the NAACP argued the accelerated timeline could create confusion for voters and strain election officials.

The Democracy Docket said the challenge seeks to void the repeal, block the new congressional map and stop Tennessee from conducting elections under the newly drawn districts, and it also targets a provision suspending a one-year residency requirement for congressional candidates.

In the background of the legal fight, the sources tie the effort to the Supreme Court’s weakening of Voting Rights Act protections, with the NAACP arguing the state’s rushed effort to dismantle the state’s lone majority-Black district is not only racist but outright illegal under Tennessee law and the state constitution.

As the map moves through the courts, the NAACP’s emergency petition and the state’s new qualifying rules set up a direct test of whether the new districts can be used for the 2026 election cycle after the Supreme Court’s Callais-related shift in how plaintiffs must prove discriminatory intent.