Judges to weigh request to put Alabama under preclearance for a future congressional map

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Federal judges will weigh a request to bring Alabama back under the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act after ruling the state intentionally diluted the voting strength of Black residents when drawing congressional lines.

Black voters and civil rights organizations, who successfully challenged Alabama’s congressional map, are asking a three-judge panel to require any new congressional maps drawn by state lawmakers to go through federal review before being implemented. The Alabama attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice oppose the request.

Judges on Thursday set a July 29 hearing on the request.

The three-judge panel in 2023 ordered the use of a new congressional map in Alabama. The judges selected the new map after saying they were “deeply troubled” that state lawmakers had ignored their directive to draw a second majority-Black district or something close to it.

Plaintiffs said Alabama’s actions and the defiance of the court order mirror the state’s actions in the 1960s.

“Alabama sought to ignore, evade, and strategically frustrate attempts to remedy racial discrimination,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in a court filing.

The request would require new congressional maps drawn through the 2030 Census cycle to undergo federal review by the court before being used.

The Voting Rights Act for decades required that states with a history of discrimination — including many in the South — get federal approval before changing the way they hold elections. The requirement of preclearance effectively went away in 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a case arising from Alabama, that the provision determining which states are covered was outdated and unconstitutional.

Plaintiffs argue that Alabama’s actions should trigger the so-called “bail-in” section of the Voting Rights Act that enables courts to retain jurisdiction and exercise preclearance power.

“Preclearance flips the burden on the State to prove its innocence. That power is extraordinary,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office wrote in a court filing opposing the request.

The Justice Department is backing Alabama in asking the judges to reject the request.

“Preclearance is permissible only when jurisdictions have engaged in pervasive, flagrant, widespread, and rampant discrimination,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in the filing signed by the acting chief of the voting section. Alabama’s actions did not rise to that level, they argued.

The same three-judge panel in May permanently blocked Alabama from using the state-drawn map that they said flouted their directive to draw a plan that was fair to Black voters. The state is appealing that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.