ATLANTA — A federal judge is considering whether to redraw Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts yet again.
U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones heard arguments Wednesday from those for and against new maps drawn by a legislative special session earlier this month.
It was an order from the federal court that forced lawmakers back into special session after Thanksgiving. Now, the judge is considering whether their work complies with the order.
The arguments against the maps echoed those from critics who railed against them at the capitol - after Judge Jones ordered lawmakers to create new Black majority districts in Congress, the state house and the state senate.
Republicans contended their maps fulfilled the order.
“I don’t know how the plaintiffs can say this is not an additional majority Black district,” attorney Bryan Tyson argued in court Wednesday on behalf of the state.
However, critics of the maps told Jones that the new maps did not empower Black voters – but merely moved districts around them to create one new majority Black district already represented in Congress by an African American Democrat, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath.
“The 2023 plan just swaps out one majority-minority district for another. It’s a constant game of whack-a-mole,” the plaintiff's attorney, Abha Khanna, said. “It is an attempt to play fast and loose with this court’s order… to protect the party in power.”
At the capitol this month and Wednesday in court, backers of the GOP maps didn’t dispute that they protected the Republican majority in the congressional delegation as well as the legislature.
But they said that Judge Jones narrowly ordered specific new majority Black seats – and the GOP legislature acted accordingly.
“The legislature wasn’t shy about its political motivation… which is not surprising in a political environment,” Tyson said in court. “The state fulfilled its responsibility.”
The state needs to set its legislative boundaries by Jan. 29 in order to prepare ballots for the March primary election. The question is whether Judge Jones will approve the legislative maps – or order them drawn again by a mapmaker the judge appoints himself.
Jones appeared to tip his hand during the hearing on Wednesday — asking pointed questions to those challenging the maps, saying they were introducing new complaints that were inconsistent with his court order that called the special session.