by Maya Homan, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]
August 26, 2026
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is sending a lawsuit over Georgia’s 2021 political maps back to a lower court, ordering it to reexamine an earlier ruling that concluded the state’s maps were racially discriminatory.
The decision comes a few months after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais that diluted a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by ruling that plaintiffs must prove there was “intentional racial discrimination” in order for gerrymandered districts to be overturned.
Georgia’s case stems from a series of lawsuits that challenged district maps drawn in 2021, which residents and advocacy groups argued illegally diluted Black Georgians’ voting strength. In 2023, District Court Judge Steve C. Jones ruled that the GOP-approved maps violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and ordered lawmakers to redraw the lines, a decision that was later appealed by the state.
The case was still pending in the 11th Circuit when the Callais decision was released, and lawyers for the state quickly filed a notice arguing that the Supreme Court decision “compels prompt reversal” of Jones’ earlier ruling.
In an 11-page ruling, a three-judge panel composed of Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee, Robin Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee and Charles Wilson, a Clinton appointee, ordered the district court to reconsider the case in light of the ruling.
“The appropriate response to such a significant change of law is to vacate and remand, so the district court may reconsider, in the first instance, whether Georgia’s redistricting plans violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act under the updated Callais framework,” the judges wrote.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was named in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the ruling, citing pending litigation. But a spokesperson for his office emphasized that the decision will not affect the maps for the 2026 midterm elections.
“Georgia’s 159 election directors are prepared and ready to serve their communities,” communications director Michon Lindstrom said in a statement.
It is unclear exactly how the case will play out once it returns to the trial court, but Ken Lawler, chair of the nonpartisan redistricting organization Fair Districts Georgia, said he expects the court to return on a fact-finding mission, which could include additional hearings.
Lawler said that when lawmakers adopted the 2023 maps, they included a contingency plan that would switch the state back to the maps approved in 2021 if the redrawn maps are thrown out by the courts. But he added that a judge may rule to keep some or all of Georgia’s existing political boundaries after analyzing them under the new precedent.
“The decision does not invalidate Georgia’s maps,” Lawler said. “It does not declare they have to be changed. It just says the district court should reconsider the decision that was made that caused the maps to be redrawn in the first place.”
State lawmakers respond
In the wake of this year’s Supreme Court decision, Gov. Brian Kemp broke with many other Southern, Republican-led states by deciding not to draw new maps for the midterm elections. However, he included redistricting among the list of issues for lawmakers to take up during a June special session, claiming that “Callais requires Georgia to adopt new electoral maps before the 2028 election cycle.”
But Republican lawmakers abruptly retreated from their plans to redraw the 2028 congressional and state district lines, stating that they were waiting to see how pending legal cases played out before making any decisions.
Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, a Dallas Republican, declined to comment on the most recent ruling, or to say whether the Senate would take up redistricting efforts again ahead of the 2028 election. But House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, appeared to leave the option open for further debate.
“Like you, we are reviewing the implications of the court’s ruling on Georgia’s current maps,” he said in a statement.
Democrats, including House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley of Columbus, say the court’s ruling doesn’t mandate that lawmakers redraw the lines, and that doing so would deprive Georgia residents of fair political representation.
“There’s still no court order requiring us to engage in redistricting,” she said. “While Republicans are fearful the results of their tenure have not earned themselves another term in the majority in a fair election, that’s no reason to take away people’s rights to pick their representation.”
Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, urged voters to turn out during the midterm elections in response to the ruling.
“The 11th Circuit this morning showed us what life after Callais looks like,” he said in a statement. “Republicans can gerrymander their way into a permanent majority. Courts simply have no real power to stop them.”
“The people will have to do it ourselves in November,” he added.
Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.