Plaintiffs, led by former Attorney General Eric Holder, opposed to Alabama’s newly redrawn Congressional voting map filed a legal challenge to the new districts. The action comes on the final day of public input before a three judge panel convenes in mid-August to consider the work of Republican lawmakers who declined to create a second black majority district in Alabama. The State currently has only one, despite the fact that Blacks make up more than twenty five percent of Alabama’s population. Supporters of the new map point to wording in the ruling which they claim supports a second black majority district, or “something close to it.”
A release in support of the challenge says…The National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) in Allen v. Milligan, filed its objection to the Alabama Legislature’s proposed remedial congressional map. The map contains just one Black opportunity district, despite the fact that the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the lower court’s decision that in Alabama such a map is a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).
The new map includes just one Black opportunity district, with a second congressional district that has a Black Voting Age Population (BVAP) of only 39.93 percent—an amount that falls far short of what is necessary and required to allow Black voters in Alabama an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice pursuant to Section 2 of the VRA.
Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States, released the following statement:
“The Alabama Legislature’s enacted map is an obvious gerrymander, passed in brazen defiance of both the Alabama district court’s order and the United States Supreme Court’s decision. Republicans, both in Alabama and at the national level, made it abundantly clear throughout the redraw process that they were not interested in passing a map that would comply with the law and allow Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice in two districts, as ordered. Instead, their goal was a map that prioritized their state partisan needs and national political objectives. The result is a shameful display that would have made George Wallace—another Alabama governor who defied the courts—proud.
“The need for a legally compliant and fair map has been clear throughout this unnecessarily drawn out process. But with the legislature showing no willingness to voluntarily comply and with the governor’s defiance, the district court should reject this map, and give the people of Alabama the fairness and equality they clearly deserve,” Holder said in the statement.
An analysis by The Associated Press, using redistricting software, shows that the 2nd District map approved Friday has mostly voted for Republicans in recent statewide elections. Donald Trump won the district by nearly 10 percentage points in his 2020 reelection bid.
Alabama was the site of a court case that led to the Supreme Court decision that effectively ended the requirement in the Voting Rights Act that states with a history of racial discrimination in voting, mainly in the South, get Washington's approval before changing the way they hold elections.
With the current fight over a congressional map, some Alabama Democrats accused Republicans of trying to provoke another challenge to the landmark civil rights law. The outcome could have consequences across the country as the case again weighs the requirements of the Voting Rights Act in redistricting. It could also impact the partisan leanings of one Alabama congressional district in the 2024 elections with control of the U.S House of Representatives at stake.
