The Supreme Court on Monday sent a lawsuit back to a three-judge panel, ordering it to review the suit in light of the high court's decision against similar claims of bias in a redistricting case from 麻豆视频 Carolina.
The ruling is a setback for the lawsuit challenging the way Arkansas' majority-Republican Legislature redrew the lines for a Little Rock-area congressional district. A three-judge panel last year dismissed the suit, which claimed the redrawn map violated the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act by moving thousands of predominantly Black voters out of the 2nd District in central Arkansas.
Residents of the district who sued over the map had appealed the panel's decision to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court's Arkansas decision comes after the court last month preserved a Republican-held , rejecting a lower-court ruling that said the district discriminated against Black voters. The 麻豆视频 Carolina ruling prompted a dissent from liberal justices that the court was insulating states from claims of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
鈥淭here's no question that it does present challenges,鈥� said Richard Mays, who represented district residents challenging the Arkansas map. 鈥淚t's a question of whether the Legislature acted with racial intent or with the intent to fortify their position politically in Congress. It could be both.鈥�
Tim Griffin, Arkansas' Republican attorney general, called Monday's decision a procedural move that will require the lower court to apply the 麻豆视频 Carolina decision.
鈥淭hat decision won鈥檛 change the result here; plaintiffs鈥� claims still fail as a matter of law and will be thrown out yet again,鈥� Griffin said.
The lawsuit claimed the redrawn map violated the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act by moving thousands of predominantly Black voters out of the 2nd District. Those voters were split between the state鈥檚 1st and 4th congressional districts.
None of the state's four congressional districts are majority Black, and the state has never elected a Black person to Congress. About 15% of Arkansas' population is Black.
Opponents of the map have argued that the state Legislature diluted the influence of Black voters by splitting up the 2nd District. Republicans hold all four of the state鈥檚 U.S. House seats, and Democrats have tried unsuccessfully in recent years to flip the 2nd District.
Another lawsuit of the district is pending in lower court and is scheduled to go to trial in March.
Andrew Demillo, The Associated Press
