Alabamas defiant new voting map rejected by federal court after Republicans ignored the Supreme Courts directive to...
The Conversation US In a rebuke of the Alabama legislature, a panel of three federal judges rejected on Sept. 5, 2023, the states proposed voting districts that failed to create a second district where Black voters could elect a political candidate of their choice.
In rejecting the legislatures proposed voting districts for the second time since 2022, the federal judges wrote they were deeply troubled that Alabama lawmakers submitted a new plan that did not adhere to previous court rulings, including one issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 8, 2023.
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, the three judges wrote, adding that the states new plan plainly fails to do so.
For the 2024 elections, the judges have assigned court-appointed experts and a special master to draw three potential maps that each include two districts where Black voters have a realistic opportunity of electing their preferred candidate. Those redistricting proposals are due to the court by Sept. 25.
