By Joseph Ax
-A federal judge in Georgia on Thursday upheld a Republican-drawn congressional map, rejecting arguments from voting rights groups and Democrats that the latest district lines illegally diluted the voting power of minority residents near Atlanta.
The decision from U.S. District Judge Steve Jones likely ensures that Republicans will maintain their 9-5 advantage among the state’s 14 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The court finds that the general assembly fully complied with this court’s order requiring the creation of Black-majority districts in the regions of the state where vote dilution was found,” Jones wrote in the order.
The case is one of several pending lawsuits whose outcomes could determine which party controls the House after next November’s vote. Democrats need to capture a net of five Republican seats nationally to win back a majority.
Jones, appointed to the bench by former Democratic President Barack Obama, had ordered lawmakers in October to create a new map that included an additional district with a Black majority or near-majority.
While the state filed an appeal, Republican Governor Brian Kemp also scheduled a special legislative session to comply with the order.
In early December, the Republican-controlled legislature approved a map that added a majority-Black district west of Atlanta. But in doing so, lawmakers also dismantled a nearby district – represented by Democrat Lucy McBath, a Black woman – comprised mostly of minority voters, including Black, Hispanic and Asian residents.
Democrats and voting rights groups had argued that the revised map violated Jones’ ruling, which had said the state could not remedy the problem “by eliminating minority districts elsewhere.” Republicans asserted that their effort complied with the decision because McBath’s district was not majority Black.
The office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he was not involved in the issue and would not comment. “While the secretary is the named defendant, as with all political issues – our office isn’t involved in the maps thus we won’t be commenting,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The plaintiffs are represented by law firm WilmerHale and the American Civil Liberties Union. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, the law firm and the ACLU did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the order.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and additional reporting by Jasper Ward, Ismail Shakil and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Caitlin Webber)
