Tennessee Republicans Pass New U.S. Congressional Map After Supreme Court Voting Rights Act Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais struck down a congressional map that included two majority-Black districts, and within hours Louisiana suspended its congressional primaries and moved to redraw its map.

The Chicago Sun-Times said the ruling was treated across the South as permission to unravel Voting Rights Act protections, and it described Florida enacting a new congressional map while Alabama and Tennessee called special legislative sessions to redraw lines.

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The Chicago Sun-Times also quoted Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent warning that the majority’s decision renders Section 2 “all but a dead letter” by raising the burden so high that discriminatory effects alone no longer matter.

In Louisiana, the Louisiana Illuminator reported that the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated its ruling against Louisiana’s legislative boundaries after the Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais, and it said the 5th Circuit had paused the case pending that ruling.

In Tennessee, the Tennessee Lookout reported that Tennessee Republicans passed a new U.S. congressional map expected to be quickly signed by Gov. Bill Lee after a Supreme Court ruling on April 29 struck down a provision requiring states with a history of racial discrimination to draw majority-minority districts.

The Guardian said Samuel Alito’s claim about voter turnout in Louisiana in the Voting Rights Act case relied on a misleading data analysis, and it described how Alito’s assertion was copied almost verbatim from a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the justice department.

Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida, told The Guardian that the DoJ approach was “misleading because they’re including ineligible voters in the denominator,” and he said “If I wanted to manipulate the numbers” he would use voting age population.

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The Guardian also reported that a justice department spokesperson acknowledged the agency used total voting age population rather than citizen voting age population to compute turnout figures, while a supreme court spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

In Tennessee, the Memphis Noticias reported that the Tennessee NAACP filed an emergency lawsuit less than three hours after Gov. Bill Lee promulgated the new map, seeking to stop it from taking effect.

The Memphis Noticias quoted Sen. London Lamar responding to Stevens by saying, “El racismo no se vuelve menos racista solo porque se le llame partidista,” as it described the dispute over splitting Memphis’s Black voting power.

The Intercept described the Supreme Court’s decision as requiring evidence of intentional racism to prove that a map is discriminatory, saying it made it nearly impossible to successfully challenge racial gerrymandering.

State Rep. Justin J. Pearson told The Intercept that the “primary goal” of the redistricting was “to dilute Black political voting power and representation,” and he said the effort was starting at the U.S. congressional level.

The Intercept also reported that Pearson warned the changes could eliminate “over 200 legislative seats in the House and the Senate” through racist redistricting, while Ari Berman said the ruling was part of a “pattern” and called it a “power grab.”

In Tennessee, the Politico report said the new map aims to give Republicans a clean sweep of the state’s nine congressional districts by fracturing Black-majority Memphis between three districts, and it quoted Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton saying, “The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind.”

In Louisiana, the Louisiana Illuminator said the 5th Circuit had been considering a rehearing in Nairne v. Landry and that the Nairne plaintiffs, who are Black voters, have said the state should add six in the Louisiana House and three in its Senate, with the report stating that 28 out of 105 House seats are majority-Black districts and 11 of 39 Senate seats are majority-Black.