Today, the Legal Defense Fund and Donati Law, PLLC filed a lawsuit on behalf of 5 individual Black voters and the Fayette-Somerville Branch of the NAACP challenging a racially discriminatory electoral map in Fayette County, Tennessee.
The lawsuit asserts that the Fayette County Commission map created during the 2021 redistricting process is racially discriminatory in violation of Section 2 of Voting Rights Act and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The map intentionally dilutes Black voting power and denies Black Fayette voters an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.
Although Black voters make up more than a quarter of the Fayette County’s population, they have zero representation on the nineteen-member and all-white County Commission. In enacting the map, the County Commission deviated from its guidelines to protect minority voters’ opportunity to elect their preferred candidates and failed to heed its legal counsel’s public warnings that failing to draw districts comprised of a majority-Black voters, in light of current voting patterns and other barriers facing Black voters, could expose Fayette County to legal liability. The County Commission also rejected alternative proposed plans that respected its guidelines and would have lessened the racially discriminatory impact that community members and some County Commissioners repeatedly raised.
Fayette County is known nationally for Tent City (also called Freedom Village). Beginning in 1959, Black Fayette County sharecroppers who registered to vote and attempted to exercise their political rights faced eviction and were driven from their homes and lands. They set up Tent City, where they lived in military surplus tents furnished by local groups.
“The County Commission map denies Black Fayette County residents’ access to political representation,” said Fayette-Somerville Branch of the NAACP President Elton Holmes. “It’s unacceptable in 2025 that the Commission is an all-white body given the demographics, voting patterns, and other ways that Black voters experience life in Fayette County. We must fight against all efforts to limit Black voters’ voice in Fayette County’s political bodies.”
“The Fayette County Commission is not meeting the needs of Black residents in Fayette County,” said Christine Woods. “Without representation on the County Commission, our priorities have long been ignored, including concerns regarding our public schools, economic development, and access to resources like the Bernard Community Center. For too long, Black Fayette County residents have been denied representation. I am hopeful this lawsuit will strike down this discriminatory map and provide a pathway for candidates who are invested in the Black community in Fayette County to be seated on the County Commission.”
“Fayette County lawmakers have evaded their statutory and constitutional duties by enacting a map that—despite warnings against and alternatives to it—is designed to dilute Black voting power in Fayette County,” said LDF assistant counsel John Cusick. “The promise of full citizenship and equal access to the political process remains unfulfilled for Black voters in Fayette County. This lawsuit sends a clear message: Fayette County must remedy these violations and pass a fair and non-racially discriminatory map.”
“The County Commission map is the latest example in our County’s long, abhorrent history of racial discrimination that must be remedied,” said Marandy Wilkerson. “Black voters in Fayette County have a right to be fairly represented, and the County Commission must consider our communities in their decisionmaking .”
“The rights of Fayette County voters to have their County Commission districts set in a legal, fair, and non-discriminatory manner were unquestionably violated in this case,” said Don Donati, Founding Attorney at Donati Law, PLLC. “We are proud to stand with our co-counsel and clients to vindicate these important principles.”
“This electoral map is yet another blatant attempt to dilute Black voting power and undermine the fundamental right to fair representation,” said NAACP General Counsel Janette McCarthy Wallace. “Black voters in Fayette County deserve an equal opportunity to elect leaders who reflect their communities and priorities. We will not stand by while this injustice persists—we are prepared to use every legal resource available to challenge this map and ensure that democracy works for all, not just a select few.”
The full lawsuit can be found here.
