A three-judge panel on Thursday rejected a motion seeking to halt Tennessee implementing a new congressional map ahead of next's months primary elections. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
July 24 (UPI) -- A federal court has allowed Tennessee to use a new congressional map that eliminates the state's only majority-Black district in November's midterm elections, rejecting a challenge from civil and voting rights advocates.
The three-judge panel on Thursday denied a motion filed by Black Memphis voters for a preliminary injunction against implementing the map, ruling they lacked evidence of racial motivation for the map's unorthodox mid-decade redistricting, which could be explained by a political motivation.
"The road to a reliably 9-0 map runs through Memphis. Thus, political motivations readily explain the map's dilutive effects," the panel, which consisted of two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee, wrote in its decision.
With the ruling, Tennessee may use the map in next month's primaries.
