Federal Judge’s have ruled that an Independently drawn upon map done in 2024 MUST be used in the case that was sent back to the Federal judges from the Supreme’s…
NY Times….
Alabama has been tangled in litigation over its congressional map for years and had been barred from redistricting until after the 2030 census. Black voters have argued that the state has unfairly undercut their power at the ballot box. More than one in four residents of Alabama are Black.
But in June 2023, the court stunned many legal watchers by siding with the argument that Alabama had violated the Voting Rights Act and needed to draw a second district with a majority of Black voters or come “close to it.”
Shortly after, lawmakers returned to Montgomery, the state capital, and drew a new map. But wary of pitting incumbent Republicans against one another, the legislature approved a map that increased the percentage of Black voters in one district to about 40 percent, from about 30 percent
This panel of federal judges struck down that map and ordered an independent special master to draw district lines. The master’s map was used in 2024, paving the way for the election of Representative Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. And it was this map that the federal court said should remain in place for the November elections.
A federal court has put the brakes on Alabama’s efforts to revert to its 2023 congressional maps for this year’s elections….
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After last month’s Supreme Court decision rejecting Louisiana’s congressional map, Republicans in Southern states saw an opportunity to redraw districts that had core blocs of Black voters who repeatedly elected Democrats, adding to an ongoing gerrymandering battle launched by President Trump and his allies in Texas.
In Alabama, state officials instead pushed to use the 2023 map, a move the Supreme Court cleared the path for earlier this month. However, it still left the decision up to the federal panel of judges, the same one that rejected the congressional map….
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Axios….
Why it matters: If Alabamans vote this fall under the 2023 maps, one of the state’s seven House seats would likely flip from blue to red.
- The decision also carries implications for Alabama’s upcoming special primaries, with wheels already turning on a plan to put the former maps in effect for midterm elections.
The latest: A three-judge panel on Tuesday blocked the state from using its 2023 maps and ordered it to instead use court-drawn maps that were instituted after the previous maps were struck down for intentionally diluting minority voting power.
- The state is planning to appeal.
Catch up quick: Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted lower-court injunctions blocking the state from using the 2023 maps, after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed emergency motions to that effect in the wake of the Louisiana v. Callais ruling.
- Those motions requested the cases be remanded back to the lower court in light of the Callais ruling, but the panel of judges said in Tuesday’s order that “our re-examination in light of Callais yields the same conclusion.”
- A special session of the state Legislature wrapped up May 8, resulting in two bills setting the stage for special Aug. 11 primary elections for the four affected congressional districts.
Zoom in: “We now face a critical decision on a very tight timeline,” the judges wrote in Tuesday’s order….
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The Aug. 11 special primaries will proceed per state law passed during the special session but will do so under the current court-ordered map — unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes again.
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