(The Center Square) – Tennessee’s new congressional maps are facing legal challenges.
The Tennessee Democratic Party announced its suit on Friday, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
“We are outraged that Governor Bill Lee and Tennessee Republicans are attempting to roll back generations of civil rights progress in just three days through a redistricting scheme designed to unlawfully silence Black voters,” said Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Rachel Campbell. “This is not only racist, it’s reckless. Changing the rules midstream will create chaos for voters and throw communities into upheaval.”
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.
Republican lawmakers said the redistricting was done to give the state another Republican in Congress. The NAACP disagreed. The organization filed an emergency petition in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking an injunction barring the new map from being implemented.
“It is a direct attack on our democracy and our constitution to dismantle majority-Black districts,” said Kristen Clarke, NAACP General Counsel. “A democracy without Black representation is not a democracy.”
The NAACP’s legal challenge concerns a vote that barred lawmakers from redrawing district lines except during reapportionment, which occurs after the U.S. Census count. Lawmakers passed a bill that allowed them to override the law and draw new maps.
Gov. Bill Lee’s call for the special session said it was to address the congressional districts.
“Finally, the Proclamation does not specify the purpose of repealing Section 2-16-102, which forbids mid-decade redistricting, or suspension on the one-year residency requirement,” the NAACP said in its suit posted on its website. “Indeed, the Proclamation does not even mention Section 2-16-102 or the residency requirement. Thus, any actions dependent on such repeal or suspension are impermissible and should be enjoined.”
Congressional candidates qualified for the August primary in March. Those in the affected districts have until May 15 to requalify under the new map.
The candidates have three choices according to the Secretary of State’s Office. They can run in the new district that has the same district number they initially qualified for, file notarized paperwork to run in a new district or withdraw their candidacy.
State Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, said Thursday he is running in the new 9th Congressional District.
