Ruling due on Senate map (Georgia)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 6/16/03 | Rhonda Cook

[LdSentinal]

Decision could come today on redrawn lines

Georgia officials are looking for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling soon, perhaps today, that could determine control of the state Senate.

The redistricting case also has implications for all states that must get their political lines federally approved under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Supreme Court completes its term around the end of this month, with opinions coming out on Mondays. State officials say that the decision could come as early as today.

Redistricting experts have said this decision could send a message to Congress when it considers whether to renew the Voting Rights Act in 2007.

"It's certainly within the realm of possibility for the Supreme Court to . . . gut the Voting Rights Act, [although] it's hard to imagine they would go that far," Tim Storey, a redistricting analyst with the National Council of State Legislatures, said before the Georgia case was argued before the nine justices in late April.

Georgia is one of 16 states or portions of states with histories of discrimination that must get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice or a three-judge panel in Washington before changing any election law.

Each decade since the law was adopted, the court has used several cases to elaborate on the Voting Rights Act requirements. But Georgia v. Ashcroft stands as the only significant redistricting case that the justices have taken from the 2000 census.

The Georgia case involves a previous state Senate map that Democrats prefer, but that map was turned down by the three-judge panel and replaced for the 2002 elections.

The justices have been asked in the Georgia case to define "retrogression," which is the term for the extent that minority voting strength can be reduced.

Historically, African-American voters have been a strength of Democrats. The Georgia party, in power in the Legislature in 2001, tried to spread minority voters through more districts in order to build Democratic strength while still meeting federal mandates.

But the judges refused to approve three districts, around Macon, Albany and Savannah, respectively. The Democrats were forced to adopt a different plan, which allowed Republicans to take control of the Georgia Senate for the first time, once four Democrats switched to the GOP after the Nov. 5 election.

After Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue took office Jan. 13, he ordered Attorney General Thurbert Baker to drop the appeal the U.S. Supreme Court had agreed to hear. Baker, an elected Democrat, refused, and Perdue sued. A Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled for Baker, but that case is pending on appeal.