Tennessee sued over 'racial gerrymandering' in redistricting maps

A group of Tennessee voters, including former state Sen. Brenda Gilmore, filed a lawsuit Wednesday over Tennessee's newly drawn congressional maps, alleging the redistricting effort in early 2022 intentionally discriminates against Black voters and dilutes the voting power of communities of color.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Nashville, points to the Republican supermajority's effort to break up Davidson County into three congressional districts and the splitting of state Senate District 31 in Shelby County.

The complaint alleges Tennessee's new maps amount to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering by breaking apart a Davidson County-centric Black, urban voting population and parsing it into three largely rural, white districts with differing "social, cultural, policy, and community-oriented concerns."

"This redistricting plan ripped neighborhoods like mine apart," Gilmore said in an online news conference Wednesday afternoon. "The legislature did it for the sole purpose of preventing us from coming together to elect candidates who we choose."

“Tennessee’s redistricting plan greatly harms African-American voters," Gloria Sweet-Love, president of the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP, said in a statement. "The plan uses a perverse approach to gerrymandering, seemingly motivated by race, that undermines the equal protection of African-Americans and dilutes the African-American vote. There is no constitutional justification for supporting the state legislature’s senate and congressional redistricting plan. Allowing these plans to survive will establish a dangerous precedent.”

The League of Women Voters of Tennessee, Equity Alliance, African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee and Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute are among the civil rights groups who have joined the lawsuit against the state.

The plaintiffs are represented by Nashville attorney Philip F. Cramer as well as Durham, North Carolina-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice and Washington-based Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Davidson County had long been in a single, solid Democratic congressional district. The county is how split into three GOP-dominant districts. U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Columbia, won the 5th Congressional District seat in November, flipping the district and giving Republicans an 8-1 edge in the state's congressional delegation.

The claims made in the lawsuit echo those made in another lawsuit filed in Davidson County court in February that went to trial earlier this year but not has yet been ruled on. The plaintiffs in that case, three private citizens, called the General Assembly’s state House and Senate maps gerrymandered and “facially unconstitutional.”

The plaintiffs accused Republicans of dividing an excessive number of cities and counties when redrawing state House maps and failing to follow a provision in the Tennessee Constitution requiring that senatorial districts in counties with several districts be numbered consecutively. The districts in question are Davidson County's four state Senate districts, which are numbered 17, 19, 20 and 21.

The case went before a three-judge panel in April.

Nashville advocates and Black community leaders had long warned splitting Davidson County up would significantly impact communities of color. The Black population in the 5th Congressional District significantly decreased after redistricting. Black voters amounted to nearly 25% of the previous 5th and just under 12% in the new 5th.

In the 6th and 7th congressional districts — the other two that include Davidson County — the Black population is less than 10% and about 16%, respectively.

More coverage:Davidson County redistricting split dilutes vote of Black communities, critics say. Here's why

The new lawsuit follows a recent redistricting fight in Alabama, where the U.S. Supreme Court demanded state lawmakers redraw their maps to include an additional majority-minority congressional district to satisfy the Voting Rights Act.

In Tennessee, there has long been only one majority-minority congressional district, the 9th centered in Shelby County and represented by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis.

Mitchell Brown, senior counsel for voting rights at Southern Coalition for Social Justice, said Wednesday the plaintiffs were happy with recent decisions like the Supreme Court’s in the Alabama redistricting case and said it “adds some credibility” to their ability to get a favorable decision in this case.

Republican lawmakers have long insisted the new maps pass constitutional hurdles. The office of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, which represents the state in lawsuits, in a statement provided late Wednesday afternoon criticized the plaintiffs for alerting the members of the media before serving the lawsuit.

"The plaintiffs chose to go to the press before serving us with the complaint; we will review it once served," said Brandon Smith, chief of staff for the Tennessee Attorney General's Office.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins. Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.