Lawsuit alleging racial bias in Michigan's redistricting maps headed to trial
(CBS DETROIT) - Michigan's voting district maps are at the center of a lawsuit headed to federal court.
The lawsuit accuses the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission of disenfranchising Black voters with these maps.
"When you're looking at the rights of African American citizens in our communities, they shouldn't have to make a decision on, 'Well, if we move forward with selecting votes that comply with the Voting Rights Act, then we can't have a majority.' That's not true," said former Michigan State Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo.
Plaintiffs allege that the newly drawn district maps dilute the voting power of African-American constituents in the Metro Detroit area. They claim the maps violate the 14th Amendment, which allows for equal protection under the law, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
"There's a substantial amount of evidence, including testimony from commissioners themselves, that the commission used racial quotas to draw these maps, and that's illegal," said Michael Pattwell, one of the attorneys behind the lawsuit.
Pattwell says the new maps stretch from the heart of Detroit into the suburbs.
"If you look at them, they fracture what is a compact and very populated African-American community, and they fracture that community into numerous districts, and when you fracture a community, you dilute its voting strength," he said.
The consequences, according to the plaintiffs, are that these maps will make it more difficult for Black politicians to win primaries and general elections.
"We're talking again about an area that has historically, for over 50 years, been afforded protection under the Voting Rights Act," Pattwell said. "The last map that we operated under, you know, we had five districts in the Senate that had majority Black populations. The commission drew zero."
The map drawing process was a long and complicated one completed by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Edward Woods III, who is the current executive director of the commission, says the group wasn't surprised to see lawsuits over their work.
"Our attorneys have briefed us very well about the court case of what's going on. We are not surprised at all that we're going to trial," Woods said. "We are fully confident in our legal team to defend our fair maps at trial … the whole goal of all the districts was to follow the seven ranked redistricting criteria, as listed in the Constitution. We believe that we did that. Obviously, we're going to court. We're looking forward to … addressing those issues when we go to trial."
For the moment, there is no set date for this trial to begin.