Voting Rights Act

A three judge federal panel is reportedly in the market for a new map maker. Published reports say the court’s current cartographer just withdrew from the case involving Alabama’s controversial Congressional map.

Standing at an Alabama Statehouse microphone before lawmakers voted on new congressional districts, State House Member Chris England said that change in the Deep South state has often happened only through federal court order.

Alabama GOP leaders say the state’s new Congressional map is in keeping with the order of a three judge panel. Critics say the new district lines defy an order from the U.S Supreme Court prohibiting racial gerrymandering.

Alabama lawmakers approved a new congressional map that would include a single majority-Black district in the state, a plan that could defy a Supreme Court order to give minority voters a greater voice in elections.

Alabama lawmakers say they're trying to satisfy a landmark Supreme Court order to draw a new district giving a voice to Black voters, but with hours to go before a court-ordered deadline Friday, experts say Republican proposals fall far short of what the law requires.

On the eve of a court deadline, Alabama lawmakers are still divided over the map designating new congressional districts and sparred over what constitutes an "opportunity" district that the state was ordered to create for Black voters.

Alabama Republicans advanced proposals to boost the number of Black voters in one of the state's seven congressional districts, but critics said the plans flout a court order to create a second majority-Black district or something close to it.

Alabama Republicans have rejected proposals to create a second majority Black voting district. This opposition despite an order from the U.S. Supreme Court to redraw congressional district boundaries. Lawmakers must adopt a new map by Friday.

Alabama lawmakers convene Monday to draw a new congressional map. The directive comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the lower court’s ruling that Alabama’s existing congressional map — with a single Black district — likely violated the Voting Rights Act.

Federal judges that ordered Alabama to draw new congressional lines said the state should have a second district where Black voters are the majority "or something quite close to it" and have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.What exactly that map should look like is in dispute as lawmakers rush to draw new lines.