U.S. District Judge Steve Jones issued a ruling in October ordering the General Assembly to redraw Georgia's congressional and state district maps. He found that the existing maps discriminated against Black voters and were therefore in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The ruling is the culmination of a long running battle by civil rights groups, religious organizations and individual voters who challenged the maps back in 2021. While Jones upheld the challengers on a preliminary injunction back in 2022, he delayed ordering new maps until the Supreme Court ruled on a similar case in Alabama. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the challengers to the Alabama congressional map back in June, paving the way for the Georgia ruling.
Judge Steve Jones ordered that the maps be redrawn before December 8 or he would appoint someone to do so himself. Governor Brian Kemp was therefore forced to call a special session of the Georgia General Assembly to create new maps. The session convened on November 29 and adjourned on December 7 and during the week succeeded in passing three main bills:
The Georgia House of Representatives Redistricting Act of 2023 redraws a number of majority-white districts to create majority-Black districts which will result in two additional Democrat-leaning districts. Republican currently control the House 102 seats to 78 for the Democrats.
The Georgia Senate Redistricting Act of 2023 creates two new majority-Black districts but does it in a way that is unlikely to change the political makeup of the Senate, where the Republicans currently hold 33 seats to the Democrats 22.
The Georgia Congressional Redistricting Act of 2023 preserves the current split of nine Republicans and five Democrats from Georgia in the House by creating new deep red districts to offset the creation of new majority-Black districts. This is the map attracting the most attention and challenge.
Republicans are confident that they have done enough to meet the requirements of the judge. “Well, I’m optimistic or cautiously optimistic that we’ve done what the judge wants because we’ve complied with the text of his order,” House Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee Chairman Rob Leverett, told reporters.
Democrats disagree. “They’re still looking for power and not progress in the state of Georgia,” said House Minority Leader James Beverly. Democrats contend that the new maps still do not comply with the Voting Rights Act, even if they do narrowly comply with the letter of the court ruling.
This all matters because of the current razor thin majority help by Republicans in the House, where every seat counts. Judge Jones has set a hearing for December 20 to consider the new maps. If he rejects any or all of them, the next step will likely be to appoint a special master to draw maps on behalf of the court. This would follow the same path as in Alabama, where following the Supreme Court ruling, a three-judge panel approved a remedial map drawn by a special master to be used in the 2024 elections. It could result in an additional House seat for Democrats in November.
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