UPDATED — Each side has rested its case in the federal lawsuit challenging Jefferson County Commission districts. But it will likely be another three weeks or more before U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Haikala makes her ruling.

Now each side will present proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law to the judge. Based on the evidence, each side will file what it believes the judge should find from the evidence she heard and responses to the other side’s arguments.

After that, the judge will take it all under consideration before making her ruling.

Plaintiffs in the case argue that commissioners considered race as they redrew district lines, diluting the Black vote and thwarting a possible third majority Black district.

Currently, the Jefferson County Commission is made up of five commissioners. Two of those commissioners — Lashunda Scales and Sheila Tyson — represent majority Black districts.

U.W. Clemon, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said a ruling in their favor could change the political landscape of the commission.

“It could … but it’s not guaranteed,” Clemon said last week. “Blacks do not make up a majority of the county’s population yet. We’re moving in that direction, but it’s not so yet. We’re only about 43% of the population. If our lawsuit succeeds, Blacks would have an opportunity of choosing the commissioner for a third district.

“What we’re saying is that if the commission had not considered race, the lines would have been drawn differently,” Clemon said, “which would have given Blacks an opportunity to elect a person of their own choosing in the third district.”

One of the key points in a recent hearing before Haikala was that Tyson’s commission district includes more Black residents than required to make it majority Black.

Clemon said commissioners made submissions to the Justice Department indicating that racial considerations were taken into account to comply with the Voting Rights Act when districts were redrawn after the 2020 census.

“That will be the principal proof that we will rely on, in addition to our expert witnesses,” he said.

The trial featured testimony from a number of expert witnesses and lasted most of last week.

This story has been updated since the end of testimony.