NAACP files emergency petition to block Tennessee's newly approved redistricting plan [View all]

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

05/07/26 10:55 PM ET


The NAACP on Thursday filed an emergency petition to block Tennessee’s attempt to remove the only majority Black congressional district in the state, which the organization argues violates the state constitution.

Filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, the emergency petition urged Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) and the state legislature to not enact the new congressional map. The Volunteer State’s redrawn Republican-friendly map carves up the state’s only majority-Black district and threatens the lone Democrat in the state’s nine-member delegation.

“It is a direct attack on our democracy and our Constitution to dismantle majority-Black districts. A democracy without Black representation is not a democracy,” NAACP general counsel Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “Black communities in Tennessee have been silenced and brutalized for centuries. This is where the KKK was born and where [Martin Luther King Jr.] was assassinated. Black residents were faced with racial violence and legal suppression every single day.”

NAACP President of the Tennessee Conference Gloria Sweet-Love called the new map “unlawful.” “There is a long history and contemporary pattern of unfair redistricting practices in rural West Tennessee that have harmed Black political representation,” Sweet-Love said in the statement. “We will stand up to make sure that Black voters retain their voting power.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5869060-naacp-challenges-tennessee-redistricting/

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Link to NAACP PRESS RELEASE - NAACP Sues Tennessee to Block Its Attempt to Eliminate Black Voting District

Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NAACP-Tennessee-lawsuit_watermark-2.pdf