Alabama smacked down by court for ignoring order to give Black voters fair representation

Alabama Republicans have once again lost in court in a battle over redistricting as a panel of judges struck down its plan that would have diluted the influence of Black voters, NPR reported on Tuesday.

"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," wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, and U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer in a court order.

The controversy stems from an earlier court decision, which found Alabama violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by packing as many Black voters as possible into a single congressional district, rather than creating two districts with a Black voting majority.

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Many legal experts had feared the Supreme Court would use this case as a vehicle to eliminate what remained of the federal Voting Rights Act, following a series of rulings in which the conservative majority eliminated or weakened various parts of the law. But in a surprise, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision in Allen v. Milligan, not only requiring Alabama to redraw its map but potentially clearing the way for other states, like Louisiana and South Carolina, to be ordered to draw more Black districts too.

Alabama lawmakers, however, responded by flouting the lower court's order, drawing a new map that still contained only one majority-Black district. In the new decision invalidating that map, judges Marcus, Manasco, and Moorer shredded the state for disregarding what they had been ordered to do.

"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," they wrote. "The 2023 Plan plainly fails to do so."

The new ruling clears the way for a so-called special master, or court-appointed legal expert, to draw a remedial map instead of the legislature, though Alabama will have a chance to review and appeal the new map once approved.