Overview
- House and Senate Republican leaders told Gov. Brian Kemp on June 17 that they would not take up congressional or legislative redistricting during the special session called to consider new maps.
- Kemp had requested the session after the U.S. Supreme Court's April Louisiana v. Callais ruling, which raised the legal burden for Voting Rights Act claims by requiring proof of intentional racial discrimination.
- Georgia’s current maps were drawn under a 2023 federal court remedy that added an additional majority-Black U.S. House seat and several majority-Black legislative districts, and those rulings are on appeal at the 11th Circuit.
- Voting-rights groups and civil-rights lawyers say they will continue legal challenges and grassroots organizing to defend minority representation if lawmakers try to change districts.
- Any map changes adopted now would not take effect until the 2028 elections, giving lawmakers time to wait on court guidance but also leaving open the possibility of renewed partisan fights and voter mobilization depending on legal and political outcomes.