gerrymandering

A three-judge panel are preparing to approve new congressional districts for Alabama after ruling that state lawmakers flouted their finding the state should have a second district where Black voters are the majority of the electorate or close to it.

Three new versions of Alabama’s Congressional map will go under the scrutiny of a three-judge federal panel on Tuesday. The stated goal of this process is to create a second African American majority district in the state. Alabama’s Republican Attorney General opposes all three plans.

The Alabama attorney general's office said that it opposes all three congressional maps proposed by a special master as federal judges begin drawing new districts. The plaintiffs, who won before the U.S. Supreme Court in the redistricting case, wrote that two of the proposed plans are acceptable.

A three-judge panel has scheduled a hearing next week on redrawing Alabama's Congressional map. Three proposed plans were submitted by Richard Allen, the lawyer appointed by the judges. Allen's options would alter the boundaries of Congressional District 2 so that Black voters comprise between 48.5% and 50.1% of the voting-age population, a shift that could put the seat in Democratic hands.

The Supreme Court allowed the drawing of a new Alabama congressional map with greater representation for Black voters to proceed, rejecting the state's plea to retain Republican-drawn lines that were struck down by a lower court.

A court-appointed special master submitted three proposals for new congressional districts in Alabama as federal judges oversee the drawing of new lines to provide greater representation for Black voters. The results reflected the views of political observers APR listeners heard from yesterday.

The legal battle over Alabama’s Congressional Map drags on. A three-judge panel appointed a special master to draw new voting district lines. That work is due today. The court order for a redrawn map follows a refusal by Alabama Republicans to create a second African American majority district. The future of the State’s Congressional map appears to have national implications. And the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked by Alabama to weigh in on the matter again.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on Alabama's request to let it keep new GOP-drawn congressional lines in place as it fights a three-judge panel's plan to create a second majority-Black district, or something close to it, in the state.

The Supreme Court's decision siding with Black voters in an Alabama redistricting case gave Democrats and voting rights activist a surprising opportunity before the 2024 elections to have congressional maps redrawn in a handful of states. It's been more than three months since the justice's 5-4 ruling, and political maps in Alabama, Louisiana and elsewhere that could produce more U.S. House districts represented by Black lawmakers still don't exist.

Alabama Republican lawmakers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let it keep Republican-drawn congressional lines in place as the state continues to fight a court order to create a second district where Black voters constitute a majority or close to it. Former Attorney General Eric Holder is asking the high court to do the opposite.