(The Center Square) – Tennessee officials said in court filings Tuesday that an injunction halting the implementation of a new congressional district map could create confusion and lead to errors that election officials could avoid.
The response was to a federal lawsuit filed by the Tennessee Democratic Party and others seeking an emergency injunction. The map carves up the 9th Congressional District represented by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the only Democrat in Tennessee’s nine-member congressional delegation, and also changes other western Tennessee districts.
Democrats said the maps were changed to disenfranchise Black voters. Republicans said the redistricting is an effort to give Tennessee nine Republicans in Congress.
The Tennessee General Assembly approved the maps on Thursday and the bill was quickly signed by Gov. Bill Lee.
Tennessee officials said in their response, “As will be detailed in Defendants’ forthcoming filing, election preparations have been underway since before Plaintiffs filed their suit with the assistance of substantial funding for overtime and any other resources needed to timely and accurately implement 2026 redistricting changes; qualified candidates were immediately notified that they remained qualified and could run in the district of their choosing; and voters could immediately view the current plan and identify their district on the Secretary of State’s website by entering their address with the ‘voter look-up’ function.”
State officials are asking that a proposed Thursday hearing be moved to May 20.
The American Civil Liberties Union is leading a separate federal lawsuit filed on Monday, saying racial discrimination against Black Memphis voters. The suit also accuses state officials of “First Amendment retaliation.”
“Black voters in Memphis did exactly what the Constitution empowers every American to do, which is to choose their representative,” said ACLU of Tennessee Executive Director Miriam R. Nemeth. “The Legislature’s response was an effort to ensure that those votes never carry the same weight again. The law has a name for this, and it’s not redistricting, it is textbook First Amendment retaliation.”
A third lawsuit challenging the maps was filed in Davidson County Chancery Court by the NAACP and others. A hearing date has not been set in that case.
