The Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires that minority opportunity districts be drawn so that they have at least 50 percent minority voting-age population.
But when Republicans drew the new Alabama electoral map, they sliced up the districts to marginalize voters of color, which is essentially an effort to ensure there won't be any districts represented by Democrats.
The map was taken to court and it was announced Monday that the GOP had lost the case.
The court said that currently, just one in seven districts are minority specific in a state with 27 percent of the population being Black. It is likely headed to the Supreme Court for an appeal.
"Both sets of plaintiffs also suggest, and we agree, that as a practical reality, the evidence of racially polarized voting adduced during the preliminary injunction proceedings suggests that any remedial plan will need to include two districts in which Black voters either compromise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it," the court wrote.
"Defendants express some doubt as to whether the state will be able to 'draw a map that can garner sufficient support in two legislative chambers and secure the governor's signature' given the time exigencies, but they assert that 'the court should not deprive Alabama's Legislature of that prerogative,'" the decision continues.
The court also concluded that the legislature has ample time to make a new map and added that "we are confident that the Legislature can accomplish its task."
See the screen capture of the document below:
Wow. Federal court strikes down AL GOP congressional map, orders a second Black opportunity district to be drawn (currently just 1/7 in a 27% Black state). Huge win for plaintiffs/Dems, though this is certainly headed for an appeal to SCOTUS. https://brennancenterny-my.sharepoint.com/personal/lim_brennan_law_nyu_edu/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Flim%5Fbrennan%5Flaw%5Fnyu%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2Falabama%20PI%2Epdf&parent=%2Fpersonal%2Flim%5Fbrennan%5Flaw%5Fnyu%5Fedu%2FDocuments\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/HxQTvqeJwF— Dave Wasserman (@Dave Wasserman) 1643075857
