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AL to Get New Congressional Lines 09/27 06:17
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Alabama is headed to the first significant revamp
of its congressional map in three decades after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected
the state's bid to keep using a plan with a single majority-Black district.
The decision on Tuesday sets the stage for a new map with greater
representation for Black voters to be put in place for the 2024 elections. The
ruling marks a victory for Black voters in the state who had challenged the
existing districts as racially discriminatory. Advocates said they hope it will
bolster similar redistricting challenges elsewhere around the country.
WHAT HAPPENED
Justices denied Alabama's emergency request to keep Republican-drawn
congressional lines in place and stop a three-judge panel from drawing new
lines as the state appeals. The three-judge panel had ruled the state plan --
with one majority-Black district out of seven in a state that is 27% Black --
likely violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act. The three-judge panel said the new
lines must include a second district where Black voters constitute a majority
or "quite close to it."
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The three-judge panel will quickly proceed with the redrawing of new
districts for use in the 2024 elections. The panel will hold a Tuesday hearing
on three possible replacement plans proposed by a court-appointed special
master. The court told plaintiffs and the state to submit any objections to the
proposed plans this week. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the
state will continue the legal fight to restore state-drawn lines, but Alabama
will face a "court-drawn map for the 2024 election cycle."
WHAT WILL THE NEW LINES LOOK LIKE
The three proposals would alter the boundaries of Congressional District 2
in southeast Alabama, now represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, so that
Black voters comprise between 48.5% to 50.1% of the voting-age population. It's
a shift that could put the seat in Democratic hands. The special master said
that candidates supported by Black voters would have won 13 or more of the last
17 elections in the district. By contrast, the district drafted by GOP
lawmakers had a Black voting-age population of 39.9%, meaning it would continue
to elect mostly white Republicans.
WHAT IS THE REACTION
The decision was a victory years in the making for Black voters and advocacy
groups that had filed lawsuits challenging the Alabama districts. Deuel Ross, a
lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund who argued the case before the Supreme
Court, said the high court rejected Alabama's bid to "relitigate issues that
have already been decided and openly defy what the court has said is a Voting
Rights Act violation."
Plaintiffs had likened the state's resistance to that of segregationist Gov.
George Wallace's efforts in 1963 to fight integration orders. "Despite these
shameful efforts, the Supreme Court has once again agreed that Black Alabamians
deserve a second opportunity district," plaintiffs in the case said.
The decision was a loss for the state that had tried to argue the Supreme
Court's June ruling didn't necessarily require the creation of a second
majority-Black district. Marshall accused plaintiffs of prioritizing "racial
quotas" over traditional redistricting principle, and said the state will "now
be encumbered with a racially gerrymandered, court-drawn map for the 2024
election cycle."
"We are confident that the Voting Rights Act does not require, and the
Constitution does not allow, 'separate but equal' congressional districts,"
Marshall said.
A WINDING PATH
The winding legal saga in Alabama began when groups of Black voters
challenged Alabama's congressional map as racially discriminatory. A
three-judge panel agreed and ordered new lines drawn, but the Supreme Court in
2022 granted Alabama's request to put that order on hold ahead of the 2022
elections. However, justices in a 5-4 June ruling upheld the panel's decision.
Lawmakers in July drafted new lines that maintained one majority-Black
district. The three-judge panel on Sept. 5 chastised the state for flouting
their directive and said they would step in to oversee the drawing of new lines.
OTHER STATES
The redraw in Alabama comes as redistricting cases are moving through the
legal pipeline in Louisiana, Georgia, Florida and elsewhere, making similar
arguments that the states illegally weaken the political influence of Black
voters. Ross, who is involved in the Louisiana litigation, said he hopes the
Supreme Court decision sends a message that the "Louisiana case should move
forward" similar to how Alabama did.
Kareem Crayton, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice,
which had filed a brief on behalf of the Alabama plaintiffs, said, "I do think
everyone in these other states is paying attention to this case."
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