Overview
- In late August 2026 the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated U.S. District Judge Steve Jones’s October 2023 ruling and remanded the challenge to Georgia’s 2021 maps for reconsideration.
- The appeals panel said the lower court must apply the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais framework, which requires a strong inference of present-day intentional racial discrimination rather than proof based only on disparate effects.
- The court’s action does not change the maps being used for the 2026 elections because primaries already occurred, but the remand could affect how districts are drawn for the 2028 cycle.
- Georgia lawmakers declined Governor Brian Kemp’s push for new maps in a special session, citing a desire to wait for legal clarity while civil-rights groups that sued the state continue to press claims that Black voters’ power was diluted.
- The three-judge 11th Circuit panel included judges appointed by presidents from both parties, and the decision could prompt new hearings, additional evidence, and further appeals that will determine whether the 2023 remedy of extra Black-majority districts stands.