Nashville, Tennessee - Tennessee's Republican-controlled legislature approved redrawn congressional voter maps Thursday to break up the state's majority-Black district in Memphis in hopes of sending an all-GOP delegation to Washington.

The move marks the latest fallout from last week's Supreme Court ruling limiting the use of race in drawing electoral districts, a decision that could reshape congressional maps nationwide and boost Republican prospects ahead of midterm elections.

Despite vocal protests Thursday ahead of the state senate vote, the legislature approved the new US House map, which will carve up a majority-Black district in Memphis, reshaping it to the Republican Party's advantage.

The Tennessee chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the legality of the new map, and Representative Steve Cohen – the Democrat representing Memphis – says he plans to sue, too.

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The move by Republican lawmakers to redraw voter maps is in line with President Donald Trump's push to hold onto a slim congressional majority in November's midterm elections.

In the Supreme Court's 6–3 ruling split along ideological lines, the conservative-dominated court struck down a map that would have created a second majority-Black district in Louisiana, finding it amounted to an unconstitutional redistricting despite being drawn to comply with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The decision leaves the core of the VRA intact but narrows how it can be applied, and will be seen by civil rights activists as a blow to a landmark law that has already been weakened by previous rulings over the past decade.