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 outcome could determine what map the state uses in the 2024 elections and whether the high court will revisit arguments over the role of race in redistricting.
The three-judge panel blocked use of the state's newly drawn congressional map in next year's elections. A special master will be tapped to draw new districts for the state, the judges said. Alabama is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The outcome could have consequences across the country as the case again weighs the requirements of the Voting Rights Act in redistricting. It could also impact the partisan leanings of one Alabama congressional district in the 2024 elections with control of the U.S House of Representatives at stake.
The Republican-controlled state House and Senate will meet Friday and could advance separate plans increasing the share of Black voters in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. Legislative leaders say they intend to meet the deadline, meaning the two chambers must compromise on one plan.
Lawmakers must adopt new maps by Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a finding that the current state map likely violated the federal Voting Rights Act.
Lawmakers must adopt a new map by Friday after the high court in June affirmed a three-judge panel's ruling that Alabama’s existing congressional map likely violated the Voting Rights Act.
Alabama lawmakers convene in special session Monday tasked by the court with adopting a new map by the end of the week. The directive comes after a surprise U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the lower court's ruling that Alabama's existing congressional map likely violated the Voting Rights Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court this month affirmed the panel's finding that Alabama likely violated the Voting Rights Act with a congressional map that had only one majority Black district out of seven in a state where more than one in four residents is Black.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week affirmed a lower-court ruling finding Alabama likely violated the Voting Rights Act with an Alabama congressional map that had only one majority Black district out of seven in a state where more than one in four residents is Black. The state must now draw a new map by July 21.
The law is once again on the chopping block — this time on the question of how state legislatures may draw congressional district lines when the state's voters are racially polarized.
The court's action came on an emergency appeal from Alabama, which challenged a decision by a three-judge federal court panel that included two Trump appointees.
The NAACP, Greater Birmingham Ministries, and others filed a lawsuit this week against Alabama's new legislative and congressional districts. They say the redistricting allows for racial gerrymandering.
State legislators will meet Thursday for their second special session of the year. This time they'll vote on new legislative maps following the 2020 census.
The federal government shutdown is now in its third day with little sign of a breakthrough between Democrats and Republicans in Washington. But Alabama Media Group columnist John Archibald says we don't need a government shutdown. We need a government reboot. He also talks about what Alabama could learn from rocker John Mellencamp.