(The Center Square) — A federal lawsuit alleging Georgia lawmakers racially gerrymandered three congressional districts will likely go to trial in November.
Common Cause Georgia, the League of Women Voters of Georgia and several Georgia voters filed a lawsuit last year, arguing state lawmakers used “racial gerrymandering tactics” to draw Georgia’s 6th, 13th and 14th Congressional districts. They argue the districts violate the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment and make it challenging for candidates chosen by Black Georgians to be elected as their Congressional representatives.
This week, a three-judge panel for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia denied motions for summary judgment.
“Having fair maps makes elected politicians responsive to the needs and wants of the people, by having elections where voters make the calls,” Aunna Dennis, Common Cause Georgia’s executive director, said in a statement.
“We deserve better, and the law demands better, than the current voting maps that prevent Georgia’s communities on the margins of society from having a meaningful say in the halls of Congress,” Dennis added. “We at Common Cause Georgia are pleased to see this case continue and we look forward to when this unfair and discriminatory Congressional voting map will be struck down.”
Georgia lawmakers passed the maps in November 2021. U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, a Republican, represents the 6th congressional district; U.S. Rep. David Scott, a Democrat, represents the 13th congressional district; and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, represents the 14th congressional district.
Representatives for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, did not immediately offer comment, while a spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, declined to comment.
