{"id":16843,"date":"2026-07-24T09:32:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16843"},"modified":"2026-07-24T09:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:32:42","slug":"federal-judges-allow-new-tennessee-congressional-map-that-divides-majority-black-district-in-memphis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16843","title":{"rendered":"Federal judges allow new Tennessee congressional map that divides majority-Black district in Memphis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A federal judicial panel has allowed Tennessee to use a new congressional map that breaks apart a majority-Black district in Memphis, providing another legal victory for Republicans who hope to gain an additional seat in this year\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A three-judge panel on Thursday declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the new districts, paving the way for them to be used in the Aug. 6 primary elections. Tennessee had revised its congressional districts in May, shortly after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump has urged Republican-led states to redraw districts to their advantage to try to hold on to a slim U.S. House majority in the November elections. Tennessee is among eight GOP states to do so since last year. Trump is hoping the mid-decade redistricting can help Republicans buck a historical pattern in which the president\u2019s party typically loses seats in midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opponents of Tennessee\u2019s new congressional districts had argued in court that Republican lawmakers who passed the plan were motivated at least partly by racial discrimination, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans have insisted they were motivated only by partisan politics, seeking to win the lone Democratic-held seat among the state\u2019s nine districts. Legislatures are free to draw partisan districts under a 2019 Supreme Court ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal judges \u2014 two Trump appointees and one appointee of former President Barack Obama \u2014 wrote in their opinion that the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed because the plaintiffs \u201clack any direct evidence of racial motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe road to a reliably 9-0 map runs through Memphis,\u201d the ruling states. \u201cThus, political motivations readily explain the map\u2019s dilutive effects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court in late April struck down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana as an illegal racial gerrymander. That decision weakened protections in the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 that allowed minorities an opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice. It also opened a pathway for Republicans in several Southern states to cite political intentions while redrawing voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Tennessee, Republicans carved up a Memphis-based district with a majority-Black population that has been represented for about two decades by Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, who is white. The metropolitan area was instead placed in parts of three districts, with Cohen\u2019s reshaped district stretching a couple of hundred miles eastward before reaching north toward the Nashville suburbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cohen announced soon after the redraw that he was ending his bid for re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amber Sherman, a Memphis voter and plaintiff in the lawsuit, criticized the ruling, saying it\u2019s \u201cpainful\u201d to head into an election under a map that weakens the voices of Black voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe deserve the same opportunity to shape our future as anyone else,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cWhen our voting power is diluted, our neighborhoods have a harder time making their voices heard on the issues that shape our daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ari Savitzky, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, told the judges in mid-June that Republicans who are \u201cessentially an all-white-controlled legislative body\u201d chose to destroy the state\u2019s lone pocket of Black political power in federal elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney Taylor Meehan, representing Tennessee election officials, rejected the assertion of racially discriminatory motivations. She also argued it was too late to revert to Tennessee\u2019s previous congressional districts, noting that primary election ballots already had been finalized using the new boundaries. Early voting began July 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRacial data was turned off\u201d when crafting the new districts, Meehan said. \u201cThe map was drafted for politics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judicial panel has allowed Tennessee to use a new congressional map that breaks apart a majority-Black district in Memphis, providing another legal victory for Republicans who hope to gain an additional seat in this year\u2019s midterm elections. A three-judge panel on Thursday declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the new districts, paving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":16844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4276,1744,2071],"class_list":["post-16843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-districts","tag-federal","tag-tennessee"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal judges allow new Tennessee congressional map that divides majority-Black district in Memphis - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16843\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal judges allow new Tennessee congressional map that divides majority-Black district in Memphis - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal judicial panel has allowed Tennessee to use a new congressional map that breaks apart a majority-Black district in Memphis, providing another legal victory for Republicans who hope to gain an additional seat in this year\u2019s midterm elections. 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