The lawmakers in the state went all the way to the US Supreme Court trying to wiggele out of doing this….
A federal court ordered Alabama on Thursday to use a new congressional map that could lead the state to elect two Black representatives for the first time in its history, by creating a second district with close to a majority of Black voters.
The order, the culmination of a nearly two-year fight over the Republican-dominated state’s illegal dilution of Black voting power, could also see Democrats pick up a seat in the state, at a moment when Republicans control the House of Representatives by a thin margin.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama approved a map that increases the percentage of Black voters in one of the state’s six majority-white congressional districts to 48.7 percent, up from about 30 percent, while preserving the state’s one existing majority-Black district.
“This is an unequivocal win that will translate to increased opportunities for those who have too long been denied the fair representation they deserve,” the group of Black voters who brought the case said in a joint statement released by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has helped the voters sue the state. “Though a long, hard-fought battle, we are grateful to have achieved this key measure and look forward to building a better future for Alabama voters,” the statement said….