South Carolina NAACP sues over congressional, state House redistricting maps
(The Center Square) – The South Carolina chapter of the NAACP is challenging the state’s recently enacted congressional map and state House map via a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Columbia.
The lawsuit claims the maps for congressional seats and for state House seats deny Black voters an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.
“The maps represent an attempt to prevent Black communities from electing congressional representatives who would be responsive to their needs,” said Brenda Murphy, South Carolina NAACP president. “We must fight against all efforts to disenfranchise Black voters in South Carolina, and we must work to ensure that Black voters are given fair and equal representation in the halls of the nation’s capital.”
The complaint said the Legislature selected what would be the worst option of the map proposals for Black voters.
“Defendants’ racial gerrymandering and intentional vote dilution in certain state House and, now, congressional districts continue South Carolina’s persistent legacy of discrimination against Black voters,” the lawsuit read. “Although South Carolina has made important progress on voting rights over the past 50 years –in no small part, due to private lawsuits and/or the U.S. Department of Justice’s intervention – Defendants continue to evade their constitutional obligations for redistricting.”
The maps need to be redrawn every 10 years after the U.S. census. In South Carolina’s case, District 1 grew while District 6 got smaller and, thus, the districts were required to be redistributed.
The lawsuit claims the new maps diluted the Black vote in Districts 1, 2 and 5.
“South Carolina’s legislative map is an exemplar of greed and racial injustice,” said Leah Aden, the deputy director of litigation for the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF). “The map works hard to create the appearance of maintaining one lone district serving Black voters, while denying Black voters any meaningful voice in the other six congressional districts. The majority seizes control of six of the seven congressional districts.
“This stratagem flies in the face of the state’s demographics, in which Black voters are nearly 30% of the population, and the public appeals during the legislative session to adopt a fair and non-racially dilutive map that were ignored by elected officials.”
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square