A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit asking the court to revoke the charters of Sandy Springs and Dunwoody.
The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus filed the lawsuit against the state of Georgia in March 2011, alleging that the creation of Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Milton, Johns Creek and Chattahoochee Hills diluted minority voting rights. Fulton County is roughly half white and half black and DeKalb County is majority black, according to census figures, but the new cities are overwhelmingly white. The lawsuit claims the new cities are in violation of the Voting Rights Act and asked the court to nullify their charters and prohibit any action to create a so-called Milton County, a breakaway county consisting of a majority white population.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten on March 16 granted the state’s motion to dismiss, saying the plaintiffs could not prove the creation of the new cities was intended to dilute the minority vote. In his order dismissing the case, the judge said the original complaint did not claim that the cities’ boundary lines were drawn intentionally to exclude black voters.