Appeals court vacates ruling that Georgia's redistricted congressional maps violated Black voters' rights

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a federal judge's previous ruling that some of Georgia's congressional, state Senate and state House districts were drawn in a racially discriminatory manner.

In its ruling, the three judges asked the district court to reevaluate the lawsuit, pointing to the Supreme Court's ruling on the Voting Rights Act earlier this year.

The case revolves around a set of district maps drawn up in 2021. A group that included Alpha Phi Alpha and the Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church sued the state, challenging the updated maps for Georgia's congressional delegation, state Senate and state House. The plaintiffs argued that Black voters in Georgia are still fighting opposition from white voters and need federal help to get a fair shot.

In 2023, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled in the plaintiffs' favor, ordering the state to add two new Black-majority districts in Georgia's 56-member state Senate and five new Black-majority districts in its 180-member state House.

The judge wrote that despite the fact that all of the state's population increase between 2010 and 2020 was attributable to growth among non-white populations, the number of congressional and state Senate districts with a Black majority remained the same.

"Georgia has made great strides since 1965 toward equality in voting," Jones wrote. "However, the evidence before this court shows that Georgia has not reached the point where the political process has equal openness and equal opportunity for everyone."

The state appealed that ruling, and the case has continued through the federal court system ever since.

In the ruling filed on Tuesday, the 11th Circuit judges wrote that the 40-year-old framework used to determine racial gerrymandering and other claims of vote-dilution was modified when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Louisiana v. Callas.

With the change to the legal framework of Section 2, the judges wrote that there would need to be a re-evaluation of Jones' 2023 ruling.

"The Supreme Court issued Callais after briefing closed in this case and long after the district court's judgment," the 11th Circuit's ruling reads. "The appropriate response to such a significant change of law is to vacate and remand, so the district court may reconsider, in the first instance, whether Georgia's redistricting plans violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act under the updated Callais framework. We do so here."

The case remains in federal court, meaning that the 2021 redistricting or Jones' requested changes will not go into effect until a future ruling.

Georgia lawmakers rejected Gov. Brian Kemp's request for new electoral maps for the 2028 election cycle during a special legislative session, saying that they wanted to give its members and citizens "ample opportunity to gather the facts, provide input, and engage in meaningful discussion."