11th Circuit Vacates Georgia Map Defeat After Supreme Court’s Callais Ruling

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 25 vacated a 2023 district-court judgment that struck down Georgia’s 2021 congressional and legislative maps under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and sent the cases back to U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones. A three-judge panel said the Supreme Court’s April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais “significantly” changed the law after briefing closed and after Jones entered his injunction. “The appropriate response to such a significant change of law is to vacate and remand, so the district court may reconsider, in the first instance, whether Georgia’s redistricting plans violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act under the updated Callais framework,” the unpublished per curiam opinion stated. The panel was Judges Robin S. Rosenbaum, Barbara Lagoa, and Senior Judge Charles R. Wilson. The appeals are Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. v. Secretary, State of Georgia, Pendergrass, and Grant. The court did not order the 2021 maps restored and did not decide the merits under the new test.

Jones ruled in October 2023 that the GOP-drawn maps left the political process “not equally open to Black voters,” citing population growth among minorities without a matching increase in majority-Black districts, and ordered an additional majority-Black congressional district. Georgia enacted remedial maps that Jones allowed to take effect. Those lines were used in 2024 and remain in place for 2026; the state’s primaries already ran on them. Fox News reported that whatever Jones decides is unlikely to change districts before November 2026. The live fight is whether the original 2021 maps can be used again, chiefly for 2028. Gov. Brian Kemp convened a special session in May aimed at maps “to take effect for the 2028 election cycle.” Lawmakers did not complete a mid-decade redraw; Bloomberg Law noted Georgia sat out the wave of post-Callais map changes in other Southern states.

Callais was 6–3, Justice Samuel Alito writing for the Chief Justice and Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. Justice Elena Kagan dissented with Justices Sotomayor and Jackson. The Court held that Section 2 did not require Louisiana to draw an extra majority-minority district and that using race to create one without a compelling interest was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. It updated the Thornburg v. Gingles framework: plaintiffs must show more than that a map reduced minority electoral influence. Courts now look for a “strong inference” of intentional racial discrimination, require challengers to separate race from partisanship, and treat Section 2 as a check on racist policies rather than a guarantee of particular district outcomes. Illustrative maps, the Court said, should be drawn without using race as a criterion and should meet the state’s lawful goals as well as the state’s own map. Georgia told the 11th Circuit Callais “compels prompt reversal.” Plaintiffs asked for a remand so Jones could apply the new standard first. The panel chose vacatur and remand. Fox noted Democratic and civil-rights challengers now carry a heavier burden than they did under the 2023 findings. Jones must apply Callais to the 2021 plans. The 2026 election maps stay the post-2023 remedial lines unless a later order says otherwise.