Alabama's congressional map is struck down again for diluting Black voters' power
Alabama is once again appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a lower court ruling that found the state's map of congressional election districts likely violates the Voting Rights Act by weakening Black voters' power.
The extraordinary move comes after a panel of three federal judges struck down Alabama's latest congressional redistricting plan for not following their court order to comply with the landmark civil rights law.
In a court filing, the state says it plans to formally ask the country's highest court Thursday to put a pause on the ruling.
It's unclear whether the Supreme Court — which upheld the lower court's earlier order about three months ago — is open to revisiting a case that has become a vehicle for not only testing the conservative justices' appetite for undoing the court's past rulings on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, but also helping to determine which party controls the next U.S. House of Representatives.
Alabama is also appealing the three-judge panel's latest ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
What the federal judges said in their new ruling
In an order released Tuesday, the three federal judges said they are "deeply troubled that the State enacted a map that the State readily admits does not provide the remedy we said federal law requires."
"We are not aware of any other case in which a state legislature — faced with a federal court order declaring that its electoral plan unlawfully dilutes minority votes and requiring a plan that provides an additional opportunity district — responded with a plan that the state concedes does not provide that district," said U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco and U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer. "The law requires the creation of an additional district that affords Black Alabamians, like everyone else, a fair and reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The 2023 Plan plainly fails to do so."
For the 2024 elections, the judges have assigned court-appointed experts to draw three potential maps that each include two districts where Black voters have a realistic opportunity of electing their preferred candidate. Those redistricting proposals are due to the court by Sept. 25.
All sides in this case will be able to challenge the proposals produced by the court's "special master" and cartographer, the judges have said. A hearing on any objections is tentatively set for Oct. 3.
Back to the U.S. Supreme Court?
The state of Alabama had previously signaled in court filings it would appeal this kind of ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We intend to promptly seek review from the Supreme Court to ensure that the State can use its lawful congressional districts in 2024 and beyond," Amanda Priest, spokesperson for Alabama's state attorney general, said Tuesday in a statement.
The panel's latest ruling is part of a long-running legal fight over a redistricting plan that could help change the balance of power in the U.S. House after next year's elections.
Before reviewing the congressional map passed by Alabama's Republican-controlled legislature in July, the three judges threw out an earlier redistricting plan approved by state lawmakers after finding that it likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of Alabama's Black voters.
Out of the state's seven congressional voting districts, that plan included only one opportunity district for Black voters in a state where Black people make up more than a quarter of the state's residents.
The judges ordered instead a new map with two opportunity districts for Black voters, and Black Alabamians, they noted, would need to make up the majority of the voting-age population or "something quite close to it" in each of those districts, given how racially polarized voting is in the state. In Alabama, the panel has found, majority-Black districts are likely to elect Democrats and majority-white districts are likely to elect Republicans.
The state is facing a looming logistical deadline for next year's races. Alabama's top election official — Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican — has told the court that finalizing a redistricting plan by around Oct. 1 "would provide enough time to reassign voters, print and distribute ballots, and otherwise conduct the forthcoming 2024 primary elections based on the new map."
The legal battle over Alabama's congressional districts is expected to continue with a court trial about the map that will be used for the 2026 elections.
Gulf States Newsroom reporter Stephan Bisaha contributed to this report.
Edited by Benjamin Swasey
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Transcript
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A federal court has just struck down Alabama's latest congressional map for not following its order to get in line with the Voting Rights Act. This is part of a long-running legal fight over the power of Black voters in the Southern state. And it could help determine which party controls Congress after next year's elections. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang is covering the story and joins us now. Good morning.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So what did the federal court say in its ruling today?
WANG: This panel of three federal judges said they are deeply troubled and disturbed that the state of Alabama is not following their earlier court order, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court back in June. And what this order has said is that the map Alabama used for last year's midterm elections needs to be replaced because it likely violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by weakening the power of Black voters. The panel ordered Alabama to increase the number of voting districts where Black voters have a realistic opportunity to elect their preferred U.S. House candidate. The judges said instead of one, there should be two of those opportunity districts. And because Alabama's Republican-controlled legislature failed to do that with the new map it passed in July, the panel has now struck it down.
FADEL: Yeah, and with strong words - deeply troubled, disturbed - coming from the judges. So with next year's election coming up, how is Alabama going to get a new congressional map?
WANG: Well, the court has appointed experts to come up with three potential maps. They're due to the court in about three weeks. And all sides in this case will be able to challenge the proposals before the court decides which one will be used for next year's elections. And, you know, I should note, there is a looming deadline to keep in mind. Alabama's top election official has told the court that this map needs to be finalized by around October 1 so that there's enough time to prepare for Alabama's primary elections in March.
FADEL: Well, that's not a lot of time.
WANG: No. You know, this case could also get more complicated because Alabama's attorneys have signaled they're preparing to appeal this new court ruling back to the U.S. Supreme Court. Alabama Republicans seem to think they can maybe flip at least one Supreme Court justice's vote to get a different ruling from the Supreme Court, which again has already ruled that this panel's order was correct.
FADEL: Wait. So the Supreme Court has already ruled in this case. How likely is it to weigh in on it again?
WANG: I talked to voting rights experts, and they tell me it's not likely to happen. They say they don't see justices changing their minds just a few months after they ruled in June. And, you know, what's interesting is that the panel who issued today's ruling said that, you know, it's not aware of any other case where a state legislature, quote, "faced with a federal court order declaring its electoral plan unlawfully dilutes minority votes and requiring a plan that provides an additional opportunity district responded with a plan that the state concedes does not provide that district."
FADEL: Wow. I mean, if you could just remind us again, Hansi, just the magnitude of what's at stake here.
WANG: What's at stake is Black Alabamians' power to decide who represents them in the U.S. House of Representatives and that that power is not diluted by how the lines of these voting districts are drawn and making sure that Black Alabamians, like everyone else, have, in the words of the panel's ruling, a fair and reasonable opportunity to elect their candidates of their choice. And, you know, Republicans hold a thin majority in the U.S. House. And unless the Supreme Court were to change the course of this case, it's likely that these new opportunity districts that the court is ordering elect Democratic candidates to Congress. And that could mean more House Democrats not only in Alabama but also in Louisiana and Georgia, where there are similar redistricting lawsuits playing out right now.
FADEL: NPR's Hansi Lo Wang. Thanks for your reporting, Hansi.
WANG: You're welcome, Leila.
(SOUNDBITE OF JACOB LAVALLEE'S "EVENFALL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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