Federal Court Strikes Down Alabama’s US House Map

The Birmingham News reports:

A three-judge federal court has ruled that a Congressional district map approved by the Legislature in July did not fix a likely Voting Rights Act violation and has ordered a cartographer and special master appointed by the court to draw a new map.

The court had ruled last year, in a decision affirmed by the Supreme Court, that Alabama needed a second district where Black voters have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.

But the map passed by the Legislature left one majority Black district out of seven in a state where 27% of residents are Black.

Read the full article.

NEW… Federal court rejects Alabama’s 2nd sham congressional map; now the court’s own special master will draw new map. https://t.co/5avFTGlYg8

— Jeffrey Evan Gold (@jeffgoldesq) September 5, 2023

BREAKING: Federal judges strike down Alabama’s new congressional map, ruling that lawmakers defied a prior court order and the U.S. Supreme Court’s requirement to draw a map with two majority-Black districts. The court will take over map drawing.

Order: https://t.co/9NlB1uZdfI pic.twitter.com/G4C1an0ITP

— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) September 5, 2023

A federal court ordered Alabama to draw a new congressional map that contains two majority-Black districts. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this decision. In blatant defiance of these requirements, Alabama lawmakers enacted a map that only contains one such district.

— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) September 5, 2023