Not long after Tennessee’s new congressional map became law, the NAACP Tennessee State Conference sued in state court asserting that the mid-decade redistricting is illegal.
The NAACP is arguing that the governor’s call for the special session did not specifically empower lawmakers to act in the ways they did. In particular, Republicans repealed a state law governing when redistricting can happen to allow the subsequent mapping that occurred this week.
Tennessee is the first state to pass new congressional districts since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week significantly weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities. But more Southern states could follow. Republicans in Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina also have taken steps toward redistricting.
These states are the latest to join an already fierce national redistricting battle.
Tennessee is the ninth state to redraw its congressional districts since Trump prodded Texas Republicans to do so last year. From that spate of redistricting, Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10. But some competitive races mean the parties may not get everything they sought in the November elections.
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