A new lawsuit has been filed in Georgia in hopes of upending GOP gerrymandering in the state that negatively impacts Black voters in particular. As explained by the voting rights organization Democracy Docket, the case “argues that the new [Congressional] map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) because it dilutes the voting strength of Georgians of color, particularly Black Georgians, and denies these voters an equal chance to participate in the political process.” If certain communities, like Black voters in Georgia, are kept out of the majority in as many districts as possible and/ or isolated to the majority in as few districts as possible, then they’d find themselves less able to have the voice that they’re supposed to possess in selecting representatives.
This extremist Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act not once, but twice, in the last decade. We need to do two things: We need to eliminate the filibuster to restore voting rights, and we must rebalance the Supreme Court to defend our democracy.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 31, 2021
The interests behind this new case in Georgia also insist that officials “should have created an additional majority-Black district in the Atlanta metropolitan area under the VRA because Black Georgians in that area vote cohesively as a bloc and are numerous and compact enough to form an additional majority-Black district,” as Democracy Docket explains things. As such, the plaintiffs want the court to direct the creation of a new map that features a fairer set-up, including an additional Black-majority district, presumably in the Atlanta area.
🚨BREAKING: Georgia voters file federal lawsuit to block Georgia congressional map on the grounds that it violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Proud of the work @RedistrictFdn and @EliasLawGroup are doing to protect voting rights!https://t.co/4h0YTOBM1j
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) December 30, 2021
Georgia isn’t the first state where litigation to protect the voting rights of marginalized communities in connection to the redistricting process has been filed. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and NAACP recently participated in bringing a South Carolina case that challenged the outcome of the redistricting process in that state and also spotlighted the looming impact on Black voters. Leah Aden, who serves as deputy director of litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, observed in reference to that case that, with the challenged district lines in place, “Black voters will have fewer opportunities to… have representatives who will be responsive to their needs for housing, economic, educational, and public safety opportunities.”
The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new redistricting plan for the Arkansas State House of Representatives, arguing that the map undermines the voting strength of Black Arkansans, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 30, 2021
Some of the examples of GOP redistricting that negatively impacts marginalized communities have been particularly egregious. In Alabama, which has seven U.S. House districts, just one went to a Black majority, even though Black residents comprise over one-fourth of the state’s population. In Texas, non-white residents were responsible for the overwhelming majority of the last decade’s population growth that gave the state two new U.S. House districts… and state officials gave both to white majorities. Issues go on from there.
This new sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion—it's un-American and it's undemocratic.
We must pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 30, 2021
