The United States Supreme Court just dealt Alabama Republicans a huge setback on Monday, September 25. The court ruled that Alabama’s attempt to redistrict the state’s congressional districts with only one majority-Black district was unconstitutional.
This decision marks the second time in three months that the court has found that this map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination against Black voters.
BREAKING: SCOTUS Sides With Democrats In Major Ruling: https://t.co/wFQOVP4ujI
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Redistricting happens every 10 years following the U.S. census, and this time around Republicans held control of the Alabama legislature after 2020 elections. This led to multiple challenges claiming that their map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against Black voters because they proposed only having one majority-Black district despite 27 percent of Black people living in the state.
The first ruling sent lawmakers back to design another map, but even with that alternative there was still only one majority-Black district, something that did not sit well with many challengers who argued for more representation given their population size in the state.
This particular decision again concluded that this second map violated a key part of Voting Rights Act, but no dissenting opinion or reasoning from those in favor were released by the court either.
This makes it difficult to know exactly what went wrong or why it’s being deemed unconstitutional by them now when they weren’t before when both maps were similar in nature with regards to minority representation.
Adding an extra majority-Black district would not be beneficial for Republican candidates seeking re-election because it could potentially lead to Democrats retaking control of Congress next year as they currently hold a slim five seat majority over them.
This is something which has made Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) uneasy due to his vocal minority frequently disagreeing with him over government funding and leadership style issues.
To make matters worse Democrats are gloatingly offering McCarthy a bargain in exchange for ending an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, which only further complicates matters.