Eric Holder group to sue Georgia over redistricting

The National Redistricting Foundation, an organization lead by former Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder, is set to file a lawsuit on Tuesday against the state of Georgia alleging racial gerrymandering.

The New York Times on Tuesday reported that the group alleges Republicans in Georgia redesigned two of the state’s legislative districts in order to decrease African-American voters’ impact at the polls, actions the group says defy the Voting Rights Act.

{mosads}Holder described Republicans’ efforts to the Times as the “silencing of the state’s approximately 3 million or so African-American residents.” 

The city of Atlanta and its surrounding areas are “becoming a lot more competitive, and they, through this mid-cycle redistricting, made the determination that this was something that was threatening to them,” Holder told the newspaper.

The suit will also attest that Republicans incorrectly designed one of Atlanta’s legislative districts that could have elected an African-American candidate, according to the report.

The lawsuit filed by Holder’s group comes the same day the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case from Wisconsin on partisan redistricting.