Lawsuits challenge new legislative, congressional lines

 ========= Old Image Removed =========1Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2021/11/WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495.png
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:1200;s:6:"height";i:675;s:4:"file";s:50:"2021/11/WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495.png";s:5:"sizes";a:10:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-336x189.png";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:189;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-771x434.png";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:434;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-140x140.png";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-768x432.png";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:432;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:48:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-80x80.png";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-800x450.png";s:5:"width";i:800;s:6:"height";i:450;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-600x600.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-553x311.png";s:5:"width";i:553;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-470x265.png";s:5:"width";i:470;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:50:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-e1636144321495-125x125.png";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Alabama Secretary of State's Office
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_wp_attachment_image_alt] => Array
        (
            [0] => These redistricting maps were finalized during the 2021 special legislative session. The state Senate map is far left, the congressional district map is in the center, and the state House map is on the right.
        )

    [_wp_attachment_backup_sizes] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:11:{s:9:"full-orig";a:3:{s:5:"width";i:1200;s:6:"height";i:700;s:4:"file";s:27:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1.png";}s:14:"thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-140x140.png";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:11:"medium-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-336x196.png";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:196;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:17:"medium_large-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-768x448.png";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:448;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:10:"large-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-771x450.png";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:450;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:14:"wbhm-icon-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:33:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-80x80.png";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-800x450.png";s:5:"width";i:800;s:6:"height";i:450;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:25:"wbhm-featured-square-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-600x600.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:23:"wbhm-featured-home-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-533x311.png";s:5:"width";i:533;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:27:"wbhm-featured-carousel-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-454x265.png";s:5:"width";i:454;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:19:"post-thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:35:"WBHM_Photo_Template_6-1-125x125.png";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}}
        )

)
1656238798 
1637075655
These redistricting maps were finalized during the 2021 special legislative session. The state Senate map is far left, the congressional district map is in the center, and the state House map is on the right.

These redistricting maps were finalized during the 2021 special legislative session. The state Senate map is far left, the congressional district map is in the center, and the state House map is on the right.

Alabama Secretary of State's Office

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A pair of lawsuits announced Monday are challenging Alabama’s new congressional and legislative districts as racially gerrymandered to diminish the voting power of Black and minority voters.

The lawsuits argue the new districts unlawfully pack Black voters into a small number of districts — limiting their ability to influence elections outside those districts — and break up minority communities elsewhere in the state. The cases were brought on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries, Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, and several individuals who are being represented by advocacy groups.

“What Alabama is attempting to do here is not only wrong and undemocratic. It’s also a clear extension of a sadly consistent pattern in Alabama history in which lawmakers and powerbrokers use cynical measures in an attempt to marginalize Black and brown communities,” said Deuel Ross, Senior Counsel for NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

The lawsuits are asking federal judges to block the maps from being used in the 2022 elections.

Alabama lawmakers approved new congressional, legislative and school board districts earlier this month. Republican legislative leaders have expressed confidence the maps will survive a court challenge. The lawsuits announced Monday join at least two others challenging the newly drawn congressional districts.

Republican Rep. Chris Pringle, the co-chair of the legislative redistricting committee, said Monday evening that he had just heard of the lawsuits and could not comment.

The new districts are expected to maintain the lopsided Republican majority in the Alabama Legislature and the congressional delegation. The seven-member congressional delegation consists of six Republicans elected from heavily white districts and one Democrat elected from the only majority-Black district. About 26% of Alabama’s population is Black, and some lawmakers argued the state should have a second congressional district with a significant African-American population.

During the recent special session, Republicans voted down Democratic efforts to create one swing congressional district centered in Birmingham that would be competitive between Republicans and Democrats.

“The State of Alabama carries a sordid record of using racial discrimination to maintain the political power of its white citizens,” one of the new lawsuits stated. “While Alabama’s elected officials have made important changes over the past fifty years — mostly as a result of court orders or U.S. Department of Justice intervention — Defendants continue to run afoul of the law when it comes to redistricting.”

The GOP-controlled Legislature in 2017 had to redraw legislative maps under court order to fix racial gerrymandering in 12 districts. The ruling came after Black lawmakers filed a similar lawsuit challenging the maps as “stacking and packing” Black voters into designated districts to make neighboring districts whiter and more likely to elect conservative Republicans.

Editor’s Note: For 25 years, WBHM served as a food collection site during the holiday season for Greater Birmingham Ministries.

 

Mississippi executes the longest-serving man on the state’s death row for 1976 killing

Richard Gerald Jordan, the longest-serving man on Mississippi's death row was executed Wednesday, nearly five decades after he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer's wife in a violent ransom scheme.

Key takeaways from the Trump-dominated NATO summit

NATO's summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday has been described as "transformational" and "historic."

Trump administration sues all of Maryland’s federal judges over deportation order

The action lays bare the administration's attempt to exert its will over immigration enforcement, and a growing anger at federal judges who have blocked executive branch actions they see as lawless.

In a first-of-its-kind decision, an AI company wins a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by authors

U.S. District Judge William Alsup's ruling this week, in a case brought by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson last year, opens a potential pathway for AI companies to train their large language models on copyrighted works without authors' consent — but only if copies of the works were obtained legally.

RFK Jr. says U.S. will stop funding global vaccine group over ‘vaccine safety’ issues

The secretary of health and human services said that funding will be curtailed until Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, takes into account the science of vaccine safety in its campaigns.

Senators question Trump plan to kill federal funds for PBS, NPR and some foreign aid

Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee pushed back against the Trump administration's bid to rescind federal funding for public broadcasting and international aid programs.

More Front Page Coverage