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  • Redistricting

Pendergrass v. Raffensperger

12.30.2021
  • Georgia
  • Ongoing

Plaintiffs supported by the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) initiated a legal challenge against Georgia’s congressional map for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) by diluting the voting strength of the state’s Black communities. The complaint detailed that the Black population in Georgia is sufficiently large and geographically compact to create an additional majority-Black congressional district in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Instead of drawing such a district, however, the Georgia General Assembly packed Black voters in the Atlanta metro area, while cracking others among rural, predominantly white districts.

This case was consolidated with Grant v. Raffensperger—a legal challenge to Georgia’s state-legislative maps, also initiated by the NRF. On February 28, 2022, the district court found that plaintiffs made their case that the congressional districts likely violated the VRA; however, the court denied relief, concluding that there was not sufficient time to provide remedial relief for the 2022 elections. Subsequently, the court held an eight-day bench trial in September 2023 in which it heard from dozens of witnesses. On October 26, 2023, the court issued its final order, which granted judgment for plaintiffs that Georgia’s congressional districts violated the VRA.

In late November 2023, Georgia passed remedial congressional map, which NRF-supported plaintiffs argued failed to remedy fully the violations of the previously invalidated map. The district court held that the remedial plan complied with its order to address vote dilution, and the map was used in the 2024 election. In late January 2024, the NRF-supported plaintiffs filed their notice of appeal of the adoption and implementation of the remedial map. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held oral arguments in May 2025 but then issued a stay on October 10, 2025, pending the resolution of other litigation. On May 8, 2026, the Eleventh Circuit issued an order calling for the parties to brief how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision changes the legal analysis for the Section 2 liabliity. The state of Georgia submitted its brief on May 29, 2026, and the plaintiffs’ brief is due June 19, 2026.

Case Documents