NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Story courtesy of WVLT / WSMV) – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Tennessee State Conference (NAACP Tennessee) has filed an emergency petition against Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly over the congressional redistricting that was passed and adopted Thursday.
In their petition, the NAACP Tennessee argues that the redistricting is illegal because state law says maps cannot be changed between U.S. Census apportionments.
“This case involves a decision by Respondents to engage in unlawful late-decade congressional redistricting in violation of clear and unambiguous Tennessee statutory law and the mandates of the Tennessee Constitution,” the petition states.
Look at the previous and new maps below:
The old map:
The new map:
Memphis is Tennessee’s only Democratic district.
The petition says the bill for the new map does not mention section 2-16-102 of Tennessee Code, which states “The General Assembly shall establish the composition of districts for the election of members of the House of Representatives in Congress after each enumeration and apportionment of representation of the United States. The districts may not be changed between apportionments.”
Read the full petition here:
The new map, according to Republicans, modernizes the state’s redistricting process by removing “racial data from the mapmaking process entirely.”
State Democrats, however, believe that the new congressional map is meant to “target and potentially dismantle the state’s only Black-majority district centered in Memphis.”
