The Supreme Court last week refused to intervene in a lower court’s decision against Alabama Republican lawmakers’ attempt to avoid redrawing a congressional map to better represent Black voters who make up more than a quarter of the state’s population.
The court’s decision made way for a second district where Black voters are a majority. Alabama currently has seven congressional districts, only one of which is a Black majority district despite Black voters accounting for 27% of the population.
“As a native of Alabama, I am relieved today,” said AFGE President Everett Kelley following the Supreme Court’s decision. “The Supreme Court has declined to hear a case that would have allowed the state of Alabama to use an electoral map specifically designed to silence the voices of Black Americans. This decision is a victory. But it is also a reminder of the lingering threats to our democracy and of our duty to continue the struggle to secure our fundamental rights and the blessings of liberty for all Americans -- not just a few.”
The court’s decision affirms its earlier ruling in June that upheld the lower court’s decision that found the state’s congressional map diluted the voting power of the state’s Black residents. The map, which was used in the 2022 midterm elections, had only one majority Black district out of seven.
Alabama GOP lawmakers had been ordered to redraw the map, but they ignored the Supreme Court’s directive when they came up with a new design. The original plaintiffs – represented by the NAACP, the ACLU and others, challenged the new map and won. The lower court appointed a special master to redraw a second Black majority district. Alabama asked the Supreme Court to block the special master from moving forward, but the Supreme Court refused.
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