Tennessee Republican leaders are discussing the possibility of redrawing the state’s congressional districts following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The latest ruling pertained case involving Louisiana’s congressional map and has prompted several Republican-led states to review their own redistricting plans.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map, which included a second majority-Black district, constituted an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, in which he stated that compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act could not justify the state’s use of race-based redistricting in this instance.
The decision effectively narrowed the circumstances under which states must consider race when drawing maps to prevent vote dilution for racial minorities, a standard that had previously supported the creation of majority-minority districts in some areas.
Tennessee’s current congressional map, which was drawn after the 2020 census, consists of nine districts. Eight are held by Republicans, while the Ninth District, centered in Memphis and covering a majority-Black population, is represented by Democrat Steve Cohen.
Under prior interpretations of the Voting Rights Act, the state had maintained this configuration to comply with requirements aimed at ensuring one district drawn along racial lines.
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator and Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Marsha Blackburn, publicly called for the Tennessee General Assembly to convene a special session to redraw the maps. “I urge our state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis. It’s essential to cement [President Trump’s] agenda and the Golden Age of America. I’ve vowed to keep Tennessee a red state, and as Governor, I’ll do everything I can to make this map a reality.”
House Speaker Cameron Sexton later indicated that lawmakers were examining the Supreme Court opinion, while President Trump also addressed the matter directly in a social media post. “I had a very good conversation with Governor Bill Lee, of Tennessee, this morning, wherein he stated that he would work hard to correct the unconstitutional flaw in the Congressional Maps of the Great State of Tennessee,” the president posted on Truth Social.
The Tennessee developments follow similar moves in other Republican-led states. Louisiana postponed its May congressional primaries on April 30 after the ruling left the state enjoined from using its current map. At the same time, in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina have also called for special legislative sessions to review and potentially redraw districts, with the aim of adjusting majority-minority configurations that had been maintained under earlier Voting Rights Act standards
These states have indicated that the Supreme Court decision removes previous constraints on race-conscious map drawing, allowing for maps that could produce additional Republican-leaning seats ahead of the November midterm elections.
