A three-judge panel Wednesday found a Republican-drawn Senate district map drawn unconstitutional and ordered a new map to be redrawn by Jan. 31.
The decision affects districts in Shelby and Davidson counties and requires that they be consecutively numbered. The judicial panel dismissed a challenge to the state House map with prejudice after plaintiffs argued that it split too many counties.
Senate Democratic Caucus Leader Raumesh Akbari and Chairwoman London Lamar issued a joint statement in response to the decision: “Today’s court ruling against the gerrymandered state Senate map is a clear win for the Tennessee Constitution. Even when a political party has a supermajority in the legislature, its members must still follow the law.
“In the days ahead, Senate Democrats will once again be advocating for a fair map and transparent process that keeps communities whole and reflects who we are as a state.”
Judge J. Michael Sharp of Bradley County and Chancellor Steven Maroney of Jackson ruled in favor of the state on the House district map challenge while Judge Russell Perkins of Nashville dissented. Maroney dissented from Sharp and Perkins on the Senate map ruling, saying he didn’t believe plaintiff Francie Hunt had standing to file suit.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally reacted to the decision by saying, “Senate leadership is reviewing the decision and evaluating next steps. Based on the thorough and compelling dissent from Judge Maroney, I personally believe an appeal is a very viable option.”
Republican lawmakers, who hold a supermajority in the Legislature, redrew the maps nearly two years ago as required by law as part of reapportionment but wound up being challenged in court in February 2022 and then again in June and October 2022.
The ruling points out the Tennessee Constitution requires “in a county having more than one senatorial district, the districts shall be numbered consecutively.” The Senate map adopted by lawmakers contains four senatorial districts, 17, 19, 20 and 21 in Davidson County, and drew Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon into a new District 17. The ruling also affects the district of Sen. Brent Taylor in Shelby County.
In contrast to the ruling on the Senate map, the three-judge panel found the House redistricting plan was constitutional, even though the legal challenge contended it divided more counties than necessary to make sure the state’s population was divided equally among districts.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons said Democrats “respectfully disagree” with the court’s ruling.
“The law in our state is clear: a redistricting map must divide as few counties as is necessary to comply with federal constitutional requirements,” Clemmons said in a statement.
The group argues that Republican lawmakers “unnecessarily divided” the maximum number of counties allowed to maintain their political power rather than uphold constitutional requirements.
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Sam Stockard is a veteran Tennessee reporter and editor, having written for the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, where he served as lead editor when the paper won an award for being the state’s best Sunday newspaper two years in a row. He has led the Capitol Hill bureau for The Daily Memphian. His awards include Best Single Editorial from the Tennessee Press Association.
This article in this post was originally published on Tennessee Lookout and parts of it are included here under a Creative Commons license CC BY-ND 4.0
