LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A three-judge panel for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas upheld Arkansas congressional redistricting on Friday.

The ruling on a summary judgment ends the lawsuit filed in May 2023 by the Christian Ministerial Alliance against then-Secretary of State John Thurston. The suit alleged racial discrimination in redrawing the second district.

A significant part of the complaint was that, in the 2021 redistricting, Pulaski County was divided into three districts, rather than being in one district as it had been previously. The plaintiffs argued that by fragmenting a Black community, the redistricting was racial discrimination.

The court’s Friday order states, “the evidence does not back up their claims of racial discrimination” and grants

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