Federal court grants approval for new Michigan state Senate seats in Detroit-area districts

Federal judges have granted final approval to Michigan’s new state Legislature boundaries after previous findings revealed that several districts in the Detroit area were unlawfully influenced by race. The court instructed a redistricting commission to redraw 13 state districts, with the recent approval of a revised map for Senate seats marking the conclusion of the case.
In March, the court had sanctioned new boundaries for seven state House seats to be solidified before the 2024 election, while the implementation of the new Senate seats will wait until the 2026 election cycle.
The lawsuit, initially brought by Black residents, argued that the previous map weakened their voting power. Despite Detroit’s population being predominantly Black, the court noted that the percentage of Black voting-age residents in the old districts was considerably lower, varying from 35% to 45%, with one district as low as 19%.
Democrats currently hold a slight majority in both legislative chambers since gaining control in 2022, partly due to the redrawing of legislative maps in 2021 by the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission.
A five-page opinion stated that residents have no objections to the new map, emphasizing that the final Senate map was created without any consideration of race. The judges approved the implementation of the Commission’s Senate plan for the upcoming election cycle.