Federal judges allow Tennessee map splitting majority-Black Memphis district

A federal judicial panel has permitted Tennessee to use a new congressional map that dismantles the state's only majority-Black district in Memphis, effectively diluting Black voting power and paving the way for Republicans to capture all nine U.S. House seats. The decision, issued July 23, 2026, with early voting already underway for the August 6 primary, denied a preliminary injunction on grounds that plaintiffs were unlikely to prove the map was a racial gerrymander under the Fifteenth Amendment.

This ruling is a direct product of the Supreme Court's 2025 decision in *Callais v. Louisiana*, which weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections by requiring plaintiffs to show race was the 'predominant' factor in redistricting — a high bar that effectively greenlights partisan gerrymanders that target minority communities. The map, signed in May 2026 by Governor Bill Lee, splits Shelby County's Black population across three districts, diminishing their electoral influence and making the 9th District a white-majority Republican stronghold.

The outcome harms not only Memphis's Black voters, who lose a voice in Congress, but also the broader democratic principle of fair representation. The harm is immediate: the map will be used in the 2026 midterms, likely locking in a Republican supermajority for the decade. This is a concrete example of how narrowed Voting Rights Act enforcement enables state-level racial gerrymandering without consequence.