A federal court panel again rejected a request to alter or amend its decision to dismiss a lawsuit from three Youngstown residents who sought to change Ohio’s congressional redistricting lines.

The court rejected the request without a written decision. There is only a notation on the request stating “motion denied,” also called a marginal order.

The three local residents contend the map disenfranchises black voters, particularly in the Mahoning Valley.

The court dismissed the case July 1 with a motion from the plaintiffs to alter or amend the decision filed July 5. That request was denied Aug. 2, with the plaintiffs filing another motion to alter or amend the decision that same day.

The court filed a marginal order to reject the second motion Friday.

The court has rejected the residents’ argument that the state’s congressional map violates Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, writing precedent requires a proposed new district must have a black majority to nominate a candidate and one centered around Youngstown and Warren doesn’t meet that requirement.

The argument from the plaintiffs is that the court ignored the VRA section that leads to the nomination in an election and focused only on the election process, which was key to the complaint. The court has dismissed that argument.

Percy Squire, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said, “The court did not cite any case from the United States Supreme Court or the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals for their finding that there is authority to support the proposition that an ‘inability to nominate claim’ under the Voting Rights Act requires the same proof as an ‘inability to elect’ claim. The reason the court did not cite any authority in support of that proposition and merely issued a marginal order is because none exists. They just made it up.”

In an Aug. 16 response opposing the requested motion to alter or amend, Julie M. Pfeiffer, an assistant Ohio attorney general and lawyer for the defendants, wrote the second request to alter or amend “is deja vu once again” and the plaintiffs “still fail to offer authority supporting their argument and they cannot compel a different outcome by sheer force of will.”

“Plaintiffs articulate no clear error of law, new evidence or precedent or manifest injustice,” Pfeiffer wrote, “Instead, they navel gaze, quibble with the panel and rehash failed arguments.”

The plaintiffs sought to stop the certification of the June 11 special election in the 6th Congressional District that resulted in Republican Michael Rulli winning and representing the district. Those results were certified June 27.

The plaintiffs are the Rev. Kenneth Simon, senior pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church and chairman of the Community Mobilization Coalition; the Rev. Lewis W. Macklin II, lead pastor of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church; and Helen Youngblood, a former labor leader who is chairwoman of the Mahoning Valley 1619 Project.

In addition to the Ohio Redistricting Commission, the defendants are Gov. Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Auditor Keith Faber, Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Jason Stephens. The first four were Republican members of the redistricting commission who voted to approve the congressional map used in the 2022 election and is being used in the 2024 election along with Bob Cupp, who was House speaker at the time.

The court July 1 also rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that the state’s congressional map violates the U.S. Constitution’s 1st, 14th and 15th Amendments.

The Youngstown residents contend the boundaries of the 11-county 6th District needed to be redrawn because the state’s congressional map approved by the redistricting commission in 2022 disenfranchised black voters in the Mahoning Valley by splitting Youngstown and Warren — where a majority of the area’s black voters reside — and put both in predominantly white districts.

If the 6th District’s boundaries were changed, most or all of the state’s 14 other congressional districts would have to be adjusted.

New congressional lines are to be drawn for the 2026 election. Also, there is a constitutional amendment that will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot that could change how the lines are drawn, putting that in control of a citizens’ committee.

The plaintiffs can appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Squire said an appeal isn’t likely because “the current Supreme Court may use the case to further erode the protection provided by the Voting Rights Act or even adopt the absurd position raised by the state of Ohio and the DeWine administration that there is no private right of action at all under the Voting Rights Act.”

Pfeiffer had argued, “As a matter of law, no private right of action exists for claims” under Section 2 of the VRA.

Squire said it is “more prudent” to focus on the constitutional amendment to change how congressional and state legislative lines are drawn and if Mahoning and Trumbull counties aren’t put in the same district under the new process to then bring a new lawsuit.

While Squire said, “We will probably just keep our powder dry,” the ultimate decision is up to Simon and the Community Mobilization Coalition.

The U.S. 6th District Court of Appeals ruled April 9 that U.S. District Court Judge John R. Adams erred in 2022 when he dismissed the case from the Youngstown residents contending the VRA and the U.S. Constitution weren’t violated. The appeals court ordered a three-judge panel hear the case.

Hearing and dismissing the case were Adams, U.S. District Court Judge Solomon Oliver and Judge Joan L. Larsen of the 6th Circuit.

The lawsuit contended that putting Youngstown voters “into a racially polarized voting block of voters located in several racially polarized counties south of Mahoning County and stretching over 165 miles” violates the VRA and the U.S. Constitution.

All of Trumbull County, where Warren is located, was put into the 14th Congressional District, which is also overwhelmingly white.

Large portions of Mahoning and Trumbull — and sometimes the entirety of the two — were in the same congressional district for decades.