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A three-judge federal court panel has rejected a bid by the state of Georgia to prevent a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s redrawn congressional map from moving forward.

Several Georgia voters represented by several civil rights and voting rights groups sued the state last year claiming congressional redistricting maps the General Assembly’s Republican majorities approved nearly two years ago were gerrymandered in a way that makes it difficult for Black Georgians to elect congressional representatives of their choice.

Specifically, the lawsuit targets Georgia’s 6th, 13th, and 14th congressional districts, currently represented by U.S. Reps. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee; David Scott, D-Atlanta; and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome.

“Having fair maps makes elected politicians responsive to the needs and wants of the people by having elections where voters make the calls,” Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said following Tuesday’s ruling. “We deserve better, and the law demands better, than the current voting maps that prevent Georgia’s communities on the margins of society from having a meaningful say in the halls of Congress.”

“We are pleased the court rejected Georgia’s attempt to avoid a trial and accountability,” added Jack Genberg, senior staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center. “At trial, we look forward to presenting the considerable evidence that the General Assembly racially gerrymandered Georgia’s congressional districts.”

The state attorney general’s office did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the ruling. The case will go to trial next month.

If the state loses the case, it could force Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to call a special session of the legislature to draw another congressional map that would pass muster with the court.

Meanwhile, other lawsuits are pending challenging both the congressional and legislative redistricting maps the General Assembly passed in November 2021.