Alabama doubles back to Supreme Court over use of racially gerrymandered maps

WASHINGTON (CN) — For the second time this month, Alabama Republicans asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to reinstate a congressional map found by lower courts to be an illegal racial gerrymander.

A few weeks ago, the justices cleared the way for the 2023 map to be used in upcoming elections, but a federal three-judge panel ruled on Tuesday there was no clear way for Alabamians to vote “under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.”

Republicans said the Supreme Court needed to step in again to comply with its recent landmark voting rights decision in Louisiana v. Callais.

“Callais vindicates Alabama’s position on the lawfulness of the 2023 Plan, yet the district court decided in one week that Callais changed nothing,” the state lawmakers wrote in their emergency application.

Black Alabamians make up 27% of the state’s voting-age population but only represent the majority in one of seven of the state’s congressional districts. Alabama lawmakers have been fighting adding a second majority-Black district for the better part of five years.

The panel said the Legislature’s latest attempt to implement the 2023 map was a “calculated, purposeful decision” to refuse the required remedy of a second Black-opportunity district. They highlighted the plan’s cracking of majority-Black communities, unusual legislative findings and the absence of any credible partisan explanation.

Voting rights groups initially challenged Alabama’s 2021 redistricting plan under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices that discriminate based on race.

The Supreme Court found the map unlawful in 2023, ordering lawmakers to redraw the districts to include a second Black-majority district. But the Republican leadership refused to comply, implementing the 2023 maps at the center of the current litigation.

A panel held a second time that the 2023 maps did not give enough representation to Black Alabamians, blocking their use. Alabama asked the Supreme Court to halt a court-mandated redraw of its maps, but the justices refused to do so at the time.

Last year, a federal panel held the Legislature intentionally discriminated against Black voters in its 2023 maps by deliberately enacting a plan it knew did not comply with prior court orders and Voting Rights Act standards.

The panel ordered the state to continue using a previously ordered remedial plan and scheduled further proceedings to consider placing the state under federal preclearance guidelines that were only lifted in 2020.

Callais reignited Republicans’ fight to implement the 2023 maps, leading to a flurry of emergency appeals at the high court despite the state’s quickly approaching May 19 primary election.

Days before polls opened, the Supreme Court vacated the permanent injunction blocking the use of the 2023 maps. And Governor Kay Ivey subsequently called for special primaries on Aug. 11 in four districts.

The three-judge panel found no need to alter its previous finding, however, holding that the voting rights groups were likely to prevail even under the stricter Callais framework, which requires a strong inference of intentional discrimination and better disentanglement of race from politics.

Alabama’s 2024 election was held under districts drawn by a special master over the yearslong litigation over representation for Black voters. The panel said switching to the 2023 map now would create unnecessary chaos.

Republicans argued that turned Supreme Court precedent on its head, citing Purcell v. Gonzalez, which limits federal court interference in the run-up to elections.

“Purcell is no sword to preclude a state from using its own legislatively enacted plan simply because a district court finds some logistical advantage to using a court-drawn map,” lawmakers wrote.

Alabama asked the Supreme Court to immediately issue an administrative stay while considering the emergency application. Republicans said the justices would need to rule on the appeal before June 1.

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