A federal judicial panel has allowed Tennessee to use a new congressional map that splits apart a majority-Black , providing another legal victory for Republicans who hope to gain an additional seat in this year鈥檚 midterm elections.
A three-judge panel on Thursday declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the new districts, paving the way for them to be used in the Aug. 6 primary elections. Tennessee had in May, shortly after a weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities.
President Donald Trump has urged Republican-led states to to try to hold on to a slim U.S. House majority in the November elections. Tennessee is among eight GOP states to do so since last year. Trump is hoping the mid-decade redistricting can help Republicans buck a historical pattern in which the president鈥檚 party typically loses seats in midterms.
Opponents of Tennessee鈥檚 new congressional districts had argued in court that Republican lawmakers who passed the plan were motivated at least partly by racial discrimination, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Republicans have insisted they were motivated only by partisan politics, seeking to win the lone Democratic-held seat among the state鈥檚 nine districts. Legislatures are free to draw partisan districts under a 2019 Supreme Court ruling.
The federal judges 鈥� two Trump appointees and one appointee of former President Barack Obama 鈥� wrote in their opinion that the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed because the plaintiffs 鈥渓ack any direct evidence of racial motivation.”
鈥淭he road to a reliably 9-0 map runs through Memphis,鈥� the ruling states. 鈥淭hus, political motivations readily explain the map鈥檚 dilutive effects.鈥�
The Supreme Court in late April struck down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana as an illegal racial gerrymander. That decision weakened protections in the federal that allowed minorities an opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice. It also opened a pathway for Republicans in several Southern states to cite political intentions while redrawing voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.
In Tennessee, Republicans carved up a with a majority-Black population that has been represented for about two decades by Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, who is white. The metropolitan area was instead placed in parts of three districts, with Cohen鈥檚 reshaped district stretching a couple hundred miles eastward before reaching north toward the Nashville suburbs.
Cohen announced soon after the redraw that he was .
Amber Sherman, a Memphis voter and plaintiff in the lawsuit, criticized the ruling, saying it鈥檚 鈥減ainful鈥� to head into an election under a map that weakens the voices of Black voters.
鈥淲e deserve the same opportunity to shape our future as anyone else,鈥� Sherman said. 鈥淲hen our voting power is diluted, our neighborhoods have a harder time making their voices heard on the issues that shape our daily lives.鈥�
Ari Savitzky, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, told the judges in mid-June that Republicans who are 鈥渆ssentially an all-white-controlled legislative body” chose to destroy the state鈥檚 lone pocket of Black political power in federal elections.
Attorney Taylor Meehan, representing Tennessee election officials, rejected the assertion of racially discriminatory motivations. She also argued it was too late to revert to Tennessee鈥檚 previous congressional districts, noting that primary election ballots already had been finalized using the new boundaries. Early voting began July 17.
鈥淩acial data was turned off鈥� when crafting the new districts, Meehan said. 鈥淭he map was drafted for politics.鈥�
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
