The NAACP has sued Tennessee to block a new congressional map that would eliminate the state’s only majority-Black district. This is happening just months before the November midterms. 

According to the Associated Press, the organization argues that Republican lawmakers overstepped state law and the Tennessee Constitution when they rushed to redraw the map after a recent Supreme Court ruling weakened federal voting rights protections.

"It is a direct attack on our democracy and our Constitution to dismantle majority-Black districts. A democracy without Black representation is not a democracy," said Kristen Clarke, NAACP General Counsel, in a statement. 

The lawsuit was filed after Gov. Bill Lee signed the map into law. It says Tennessee had long banned mid-decade congressional redistricting and that lawmakers could not legally repeal that ban during a special session because Lee’s call did not specifically authorize that move.

At the center of the fight is Memphis, a majority-Black city that anchors the 9th Congressional District. The new map would split Memphis into three districts, diluting the influence of Black voters and potentially helping Republicans win every U.S. House seat in the state.

"Black communities in Tennessee have been silenced and brutalized for centuries. This is where the KKK was born and where MLK was assassinated. Black residents were faced with racial violence and legal suppression every single day,” Clarke stated.  “And to vote, they were met with poll taxes and literacy tests designed to keep them silent. We're outraged that the State, rather than seeking a more just and fair system, is seeking to roll Tennessee back to a time when many of us didn't have equal rights."

Tennessee NAACP President Gloria Sweet-Love said the group would fight to protect Black voting power. The complaint also challenges a separate change suspending a one-year residency requirement for congressional candidates, warning it could open the door to candidates with no ties to the district.

The case lands as other Southern states weigh similar redraws, following the Supreme Court decision that sparked the Tennessee fight. For now, the legal battle could shape not just one district, but the broader balance of power in a state where voting rights and racism, and political control are colliding in real time.

“We will fight this map, tooth and nail,” Clarke said.