‘Disturbed’: Federal court strikes Alabama’s convention card for second time

For the second time, the congressional card drawn by the Republicans was in Alabama rejected convicted by a panel of federal judges of failing to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

The three-member Alabama panel, which included two Trump-appointed judges, scrapped an earlier redistricting plan approved by Republican lawmakers in the state after finding it weakened the power of black voters in Alabama. That earlier ruling was upheld by the conservative Supreme Court. After the 2020 census, a group of black voters questioned the map, which called for six congressional districts with a white Republican incumbent. More than one in four Alabama residents is black.

“The law requires the creation of an additional district that will provide black Alabamians, like everyone else, with a fair and reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice,” the judges wrote Tuesday. “The 2023 plan clearly doesn’t make it.”

The verdict continued:

We are not aware of any other instance in which a state legislature, in the face of a federal court order finding that its election plan unlawfully diluted minority votes and requiring a plan that provides a constituency with additional capabilities, has come up with a plan has responded, which the state acknowledges does not provide that district

“I hear you say that the state of Alabama intentionally disregarded our orders,” said Justice Moorer, a Trump-appointed judge. For its part, the Alabama Attorney General’s office defended the lawmaker’s card in the case

The judges have decided for the 2024 elections court-appointed experts Draw three potential maps, each containing two boroughs, where black voters have a reasonable chance of voting for their preferred candidate. These redistribution proposals must be submitted to the court by the end of the month.

Alabama’s only majority-black district was formed two decades ago after a legal battle.