Court appointee proposes Alabama congressional districts to provide representation to Black voters

 1607321907 
1695675523

11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A court-appointed special master on Monday submitted three proposals for new congressional districts in Alabama as federal judges oversee the drawing of new lines to provide greater representation for Black voters.

The three proposals all create a second district where Black voters comprise a majority of the voting age population or close to it — something that state lawmakers refused to do when they drew lines this summer. The court-appointed special master wrote that a performance analysis shows that candidates preferred by Black voters would have won the majority of recent elections in the revamped district.

A three-judge panel is overseeing the drawing of new lines after ruling that Alabama lawmakers ignored their finding that the state should have more than one district with a substantial percentage of Black voters and where candidates preferred by Black voters have a fighting chance to win. Alabama has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put the redraw on hold as the state appeals, but the justices have yet to rule on the request.

The three-judge panel has tentatively scheduled an Oct. 3 hearing on the special master’s proposed plans.

Kareem Crayton, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, which filed an earlier brief supporting plaintiffs who challenged Alabama’s previous map, said the proposals, “show a serious consideration of the need to remedy the violation found by the court.”

“There will be more to review as we get access to the block files supporting these recommended maps, but what’s clear is that the Special Master did what the state had to date simply refused to do: take the directives of the local court seriously. Each proposal appears to create two districts that are either majority Black or close to it,” Crayton said.

The three proposals, submitted by court-appointed special master Richard Allen would alter the boundaries of Congressional District 2 so that Black voters comprise between 48.5% to 50.1% of the voting-age population. By contrast, the district drafted by GOP lawmakers had a Black voting age population of 39.9%, meaning it would continue to elect mostly white Republicans.

However, Allen wrote that the lines were not drawn on the basis of race and did not target a particular Black population percentage in any district. But he said the proposals follow the court’s directive that the state should have an additional district in which Black voters “have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.”

“A performance analysis in this case should demonstrate that the Black-preferred candidate often would win an election in the subject district,” Allen wrote. The filing said that candidates preferred by Black voters would have won between 13 and 16 of 17 recent elections.

The three-judge panel had ruled that Alabama’s 2021 plan — that had one majority-Black district out of seven in a state where 27% of residents are Black — likely violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act. The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the panel’s finding, leading lawmakers to draw new lines.

The Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature, which has been reluctant to create a Democratic-leaning district, in July adopted a new map that maintained a single Black district. The three-judge panel wrote that they were “deeply troubled” by the state’s defiance, blocked use of the new map and directed a special master to submit proposed new maps.

 

Alabama’s prison population sees troubling growth in latest DOJ report

For the first time in nearly a decade, U.S. prison populations are trending up. Alabama's numbers are a part of troubling gains across the Gulf South.

A narrowing Republican presidential field will debate in Tuscaloosa Wednesday

Four candidates will be on stage at the University of Alabama for their last scheduled meeting before the Iowa caucuses kick off the presidential nominating season next month. Former President Donald Trump, the race’s clear front-runner, will not be among them.

Place, Erased: A virtual listening session with the Gulf States Newsroom; RSVP now

Join us as we listen to the recent series about towns transformed by major environmental shifts and talk with the reporters about what they learned.

Tuberville is ending blockade of most military nominees

Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions was over a dispute about a Pentagon abortion policy. The Alabama Republican said Tuesday he’s “not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer.”

Man featured in ‘S-Town’ podcast shot and killed by police during standoff, authorities say

Joseph Tyler Goodson was shot by officers after he barricaded himself inside a home and “brandished a gun" at officers early Sunday, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. Bibb County Coroner Patrick Turner said that Goodson was pronounced “brain dead” Tuesday night at a hospital.

The next Republican debate is in Alabama, the state that gave the GOP a road map to Donald Trump

The state that propelled George Wallace, a Democrat and four-term governor, into national politics is now dominated by Republicans loyal to Donald Trump, another figure who leans heavily on grievance and white identity politics.

More Front Page Coverage