A 5-4 ruling from the Supreme Court has dealt a hefty blow to the Democrats in their fight to redraw a more favorable House map in a key state that would have potentially added a new seat.
Media Right News reports: “The ruling may have been impacted by the fact that Democrats just maneuvered an enormous gerrymander in New York, which will likely slash Republican seats in half.”
The Supreme Court ruling was decided on a razor thin 5-4 margin, with faux-conservative Justice John Roberts once again siding with the leftist wing of the court.
The ruling from SCOTUS orders a stay on the new Democrat-drawn map, which allows Alabama to keep the previous map, drawn by Republicans, while the court considers the case fully.
“The stay will allow this Court to decide the merits in an orderly fashion — after full briefing, oral argument, and our usual extensive internal deliberations — and ensure that we do not have to decide the merits on the emergency docket,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Samuel Alito.
Kavanaugh joined by Alito write separately to say that he is granting a stay because of the election schedule. pic.twitter.com/J9oTtO5Ef1
— Michael Li 李之樸 (@mcpli) February 7, 2022
In their attempt to redraw Alabama’s House map, Democrats were complaining that the current map doesn’t give black voters adequate representation in the state, claiming that it is unfair that they only have one majority-black seat while making up around 27% of the constituency.
When discussing the lower court ruling that sided with the Democrats, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall argued that it would have required the state to put race above other redistricting criteria.
Dave Wasserman, a redistricting expert, tweeted about the decision.
“The SCOTUS stay is obviously a huge win for Republicans and a blow to a coalition of Dems/civil rights groups seeking an additional Black opportunity seat in AL (and LA/SC). The 6R-1D GOP map will stand for 2022, and possibly longer,” Wasserman wrote.
The SCOTUS stay is obviously a huge win for Republicans and a blow to a coalition of Dems/civil rights groups seeking an additional Black opportunity seat in AL (and LA/SC). The 6R-1D GOP map will stand for 2022, and possibly longer.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) February 7, 2022
