Federal Judge strikes down Cobb school board map; school district to appeal

Federal Judge Eleanor Ross has invalidated the Cobb County Board of Education’s district map, declaring it an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Ross, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, granted the request from a group to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the Cobb Board of Elections from conducting any future elections using the current school board map. The judge has ordered the Georgia General Assembly to create a new map by January 10.

Judge Ross also denied a previous request from the district to impose sanctions on the plaintiffs. The school district had sought sanctions requiring plaintiffs to pay the district’s attorney’s fees, as well as a fine, due to what they alleged was an “improper use of the litigation process to pursue purely partisan goals while harassing the District and causing it to incur wholly unnecessary time and expense to respond to claims that are frivolous and unfounded.” 

The lawsuit, initiated in June 2022, was filed by Cobb residents and community organizations, alleging that the existing school board map was designed to discriminate based on race. The plaintiffs, including GALEO Latino Community Development Fund and New Georgia Project Action Fund, argued that the map packed Black and Latino voters into three districts while reducing the populations of other districts.

The map in question was drawn by a law firm hired by the school board’s Republican majority, and it was later recommended by the board in a 4-3 vote along partisan lines. The map was then sponsored in the legislature by State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-west Cobb, and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), one of the groups representing the plaintiffs, said, “We are pleased with the court’s decision to side with the plaintiffs to block the current school board maps. This is one step towards more equitable representation on the Cobb County School Board. This is a great day for our clients who are the real champions of this lawsuit because they refuse to let their voting power be reduced and have every right to have an equal influence in school board elections.”

In addition to SPLC, the American Civil Liberties Union is also representing the Plaintiffs, GALEO Latino Community Development Fund and New Georgia Project Action Fund. Plaintiffs have claimed the map was drawn predominantly on the basis of race to “pack” Black and Latino voters into three districts, giving them Black and Latino populations of 63%, 77% and 50%, and “bleaching” the population of the other four districts, giving them white populations of 58%, 66%, 67% and 58%.

In response to the judge’s decision, the lawyer for the school district, Ben Mathis, vigorously denied claims of racial gerrymandering and expressed its intent to appeal the injunction to the 11th Circuit of Appeals.

The school district had previously spent nearly $1.3 million with Mathis’ firm on the lawsuit. The legal proceedings and cost are expected to continue as the case progresses through the appeals process.