A federal judge in Georgia has approved new Republican-drawn congressional maps, delivering a win to state’s GOP as it seeks to keep its majority while rejecting claims in three separate lawsuits that the redrawn maps don’t do enough to help black voters.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones said in similarly worded orders that the creation of new majority-black voting districts solved the problem of illegal minority vote dilution that led the judge to order the maps redrawn in the first place.
“The Court finds that the General Assembly fully complied with this Court’s order requiring the creation of Black-majority districts in the regions of the State where vote dilution was found,” Judge Jones wrote in each of three orders filed on Dec. 28 at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia….
