Alabama Governor calls special session following Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling.

Alabama Legislature to Redraw Congressional Districts After Supreme Court Ruling

The Alabama legislature will soon convene a special session to redraw the state’s congressional districts following a groundbreaking ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Governor Kay Ivey made the announcement, emphasizing the importance of fair representation for Alabama in Washington.

In a recent 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court determined that the state’s congressional district may have violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965, potentially discriminating against black voters. Notably, Republican-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts joined the three Democrat-appointed justices in the majority opinion, while Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.

“It is critical that Alabama be fairly and accurately represented in Washington,” stated Governor Ivey in a statement on Tuesday. She further emphasized that the legislature knows the state better than the federal courts.

Focus on Congressional Redistricting

During the special session, the sole topic of discussion will be the congressional redistricting. The legislature is set to convene on July 17, with further details yet to be provided.

“It is of the utmost importance that this special session only address the congressional map and nothing else. The task at hand is too urgent and too important,” stressed Governor Ivey. “The Alabama Legislature has one chance to get this done before the July 21 court deadline. Our Legislature knows our state, our people, and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups do.”

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled that the state’s 2021 congressional map violated the Voting Rights Act. On June 8, the Supreme Court’s majority concurred with the appeals court decision.

The panel ordered the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to create a new redistricting plan with two additional districts by July 21. While the exact details of the new maps remain uncertain, plaintiffs in the lawsuits proposed two districts with slightly over 50% black populations. This outcome appears to favor Democrats, as black voters in Alabama tend to support Democratic candidates.

Chief Justice Roberts, in the majority opinion, expressed disagreement with Alabama’s interpretation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. He noted that certain aspects of Section 2 “may impermissibly elevate race in the allocation of political power within the States.”

“We are content to reject Alabama’s invitation to change existing law,” stated Chief Justice Roberts. “We find Alabama’s new approach to [Section] 2 compelling neither in theory nor in practice. We accordingly decline to recast our [Section] 2 case law as Alabama requests.”

Chief Justice Roberts referred to a previous precedent in which the Supreme Court held that “racial gerrymandering, even for remedial purposes, may balkanize us into competing racial factions; it threatens to carry us further from the goal of a political system in which race no longer matters.”

Stay tuned for further updates on this important development.