The Cobb County School District has no standing to appeal a previous ruling that redrawn school board maps likely violated federal law, federal judges said this month.
The school district has not been named in the ongoing legal battle over which parts of the county school board members will represent, though it has repeatedly intervened in the suit.
In 2022, voting rights groups filed a suit against the Cobb Board of Elections, alleging the school board and state lawmakers drew a map that unlawfully discriminates against communities of color by “packing” them into a small number of districts to dilute minority voting power.
The Board of Elections opted to settle with the plaintiffs almost a year ago, citing its position as a “neutral administrator of elections.” A federal court judge then ordered state lawmakers to draw a new map, but that order was suspended on appeal. Lawmakers went ahead and passed a new map anyway — one very similar to the disputed map — to be used in the 2024 election.
The school board is the last governing body in Cobb County to be led by a Republican majority, further heightening the political contention over the district map. This year, three seats currently held by Republicans on the school board are up for election.
The judge will hear from both sides of the original suit and decide if the case and settlement agreement are now moot, since lawmakers have already approved a different map.
“We are now looking forward to ensuring that a map is in place that meets the aims of the preliminary injunction and bringing our case to conclusion,” said Sofia Fernandez Gold, an attorney with Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, who argued the case before the appellate court in May.
During the appellate hearing, Gold suggested the school district purposefully filed motions to delay the case.
“We are happy that Cobb voters will enter the ballot box in November without concern the Board map will change,” the school district said in a statement in response to the appeals ruling. “We are confident in both the facts of the case and that Cobb voters will determine who represents them.”
In the first year of the case, the school district spent over $1 million in legal fees to defend the map, despite not being named in the lawsuit, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
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