A Tennessee state panel heard emergency injunction arguments over a map that splits Memphis's majority-Black district, as a federal judge consolidates three parallel challenges.
A three-judge Tennessee state court panel heard emergency arguments May 22 on whether to enjoin a new congressional redistricting map that breaks apart Memphis's majority-Black 9th Congressional District into three separate Republican-leaning districts [1]. The map was drawn during a hastily-called special session of the Tennessee General Assembly. Plaintiffs, led by the NAACP Tennessee and the ACLU, argue the map violates state law and was enacted outside the scope of a valid special-session proclamation [1].
The state court proceeding is one half of a two-track legal battle. On the federal side, Chief U.S. District Judge William Campbell Jr. of the Middle District of Tennessee consolidated three separate federal challenges to the same map into a single case [2]. Judge Campbell had previously denied a temporary restraining order in one of the constituent suits but has not yet ruled on pending injunction requests in the remaining consolidated actions [2]. The federal plaintiffs include the League of Women Voters, and the legal teams opposing the map include the ACLU alongside other civil rights counsel [1] [2].
The stakes are substantial. The litigation is the most active redistricting contest in the country ahead of the 2026 midterms, and it represents a direct legal consequence of the Supreme Court's recent Voting Rights Act jurisprudence. The core question, in both forums, is whether dismantling a majority-Black congressional seat constitutes an unlawful racial gerrymander, and whether the special session that produced the map was procedurally deficient under Tennessee law [1]. NAACP Tennessee President Gloria Sweet-Love has been a public face of the opposition to the map [1].
The August 2026 primary sets the hard deadline. If neither court issues an injunction before candidates must qualify and ballots are printed, the new district lines will govern that election, effectively eliminating minority-community electoral influence in the Memphis region for at least one election cycle. With the state panel's emergency hearing now concluded and Judge Campbell's consolidation order in place, rulings from both courts are expected within weeks [1] [2]. Governor Bill Lee's administration, represented in part by the firm Consovoy McCarthy, is defending the map [1].