Georgia Redistricting Case Sent Back to Judge Under New Supreme Court Test

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nullified a district court decision that had invalidated Georgia’s 2021 congressional and state legislative maps, ordering U.S. District Judge Steve Jones to reassess the challenge under the new framework established by the Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais. Under that precedent, plaintiffs must present evidence of a strong inference that legislators acted with discriminatory intent, rather than merely showing that the maps diluted Black voting power.

The original lawsuits, filed between December 2021 and January 2022 by Black voters and voting-rights organizations, claimed the maps violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Judge Jones had previously ordered the creation of additional majority-Black districts, prompting Georgia to adopt replacement maps that preserved Republican advantages elsewhere and were used in the 2024 elections. Those maps will also be used for the 2026 election cycle while the legal dispute continues. The appeals court did not mandate a new trial or the reinstatement of the 2021 maps, leaving the future of the case uncertain as the November 2026 midterms approach.