Mariana Bacayau

But they all have the same goal, to block it from going into effect before the midterms.

The allegations range from racial discrimination to voter disenfranchisement to an overreach of state powers.

So far, Tennessee's attorney general has argued that the NAACP doesn't have standing to challenge the maps.

A previous NAACP challenge to the state's 2022 maps was rejected by the courts because the change would have been too close to an election.

Now the NAACP is hoping that logic extends to the state's new maps.

For NPR News, I'm Mariana Bacayau in Nashville.

The NAACP has filed an emergency petition against Tennessee's new maps, arguing that the state didn't have the authority to strike down a 50-year-old law that barred mid-decade redistricting.

The new congressional maps split Memphis, the state's only majority Black voting bloc, into three different districts.

Protesters from the state's blue cities argue that this will take away the voice of voters who support Democrats, roughly a third of the state's population.

Republicans say that the new maps will reflect the state's overall conservative bent and maintain that redistricting along party lines is legal.

For NPR News, I'm Mariana Bacayau in Nashville.

The NAACP has filed an emergency petition against Tennessee's new maps, arguing that the state didn't have the authority to strike down a 50-year-old law that barred mid-decade redistricting.

The new congressional maps split Memphis, the state's only majority Black voting bloc, into three different districts.

Protesters from the state's blue cities argue that this will take away the voice of voters who support Democrats, roughly a third of the state's population.

Republicans say that the new maps will reflect the state's overall conservative bent and maintain that redistricting along party lines is legal.

For NPR News, I'm Mariana Bacayau in Nashville.

The biggest change is to the city of Memphis, a majority black district that up until last week had been protected under part of the Voting Rights Act.

Now the city will be split into three different congressional districts, and it means all nine of the state's U.S.

House seats are more likely to go to Republicans.

Hundreds chanted No Jim Crow 2.0 and shame as lawmakers met today to approve new maps splitting Memphis and its majority black voting bloc into three districts, one of which spans nearly 300 miles.