Georgia redistricting case moves to Supreme Court for final battle

WASHINGTON - Georgia&#39;s last opportunity to defend its original redistricting plans comes Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court considers the legality of three state Senate districts in a dispute that has pit governor versus attorney general and Republicans versus Democrats. <br> <br> Technically, the court will simply determine whether Georgia&#39;s Legislature illegally diluted minority voting power in a state Senate map aimed at maximizing the influence of the Democrats who drew it. <br> <br> But, the ruling could have far broader implications and even call into question the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which mandates certain states -- Georgia among them -- must get federal permission to change their voting laws. <br> <br> The conflict almost didn&#39;t even make it this far. Governor Perdue, the Republican elected last November to replace Democrat Roy Barnes, had urged Democratic Attorney General Thurbert Baker to stop the redistricting fight. When Baker refused, Perdue sued. That battle, a separate matter, is being hashed out in the Georgia court system. <br> <br> Monday, Perdue signaled his position on the larger redistricting question hasn&#39;t changed and that the state is moving forward with a lawsuit the state&#39;s chief executive doesn&#39;t support. <br> <br> Yet when members of Congress wrote the Voting Rights Act, they knew court fights like this were sure to happen. Georgia couldn&#39;t get the U.S. Justice Department to sign off on its redistricting plans, so the state and federal governments argued their case in front of a federal district judge in Washington. <br> <br> The verdict -- the redrawn state House and congressional maps were acceptable, but three Senate districts weren&#39;t. The Legislature drew new ones in time for last year&#39;s election, but Georgia appealed anyway. In a somewhat surprising move, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal.

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