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The Supreme Court on Tuesday will debate whether the state of Alabama’s congressional map illegally disadvantages Black voters.
Following the 2020 census, Alabama created a new redistricting map for its seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. A group of Alabama voters, NAACP and Greater Birmingham Ministries filed a lawsuit, claiming the new maps limited the influence of Black voters by placing people from “majority-Black counties … into majority-white Congressional districts in low enough numbers that Black voters have no electoral influence.”
They argue the map should be redrawn so that Alabama has two majority-Black districts instead of just one, Congressional District 7 (CD 7).
Alabama is set to argue that should the lawsuit prevail, the state will be forced into an unconstitutional practice of prioritizing race in creating election rules — which is what plaintiffs have accused the state of doing.
Supreme Court of the United States
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
FIVE MONTHS LATER, SUPREME COURT STILL INVESTIGATING WHO LEAKED THE ABORTION CASE
The state adds that Alabama’s redistricting plan followed existing districting lines and attempted to make “race-neutral adjustments for small shifts in population over the last decade but otherwise retain existing district lines.”
But plaintiffs say the demographics of the state mean Alabama needs to do more to give Black voters a chance to elect a Black representative.
“In the twentieth century, Black Alabamians have never elected a congressional representative in any district other than the packed majority-Black CD 7. And CD 7 has only been a majority-Black district since 1992,” plaintiffs argue. “As a result, Black Alabamians have the opportunity to elect a candidate of choice in only 14% of the congressional delegation…despite making up over 27% of Alabama’s voting age population.”
The issue before the court is whether Alabama violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits…
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Source : foxnews
