Federal court blocks Alabama’s map eliminating majority-Black district in win for Black voters
TheGrio...
The deliberate targeting of districts where a plurality of Black voters determines the outcome of elections in the South has been vehemently condemned by voting rights advocates and the CBC.
Black voters in Alabama were handed a temporary victory in their fight to preserve a second majority-Black district that was swiftly eliminated after a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court gutted protections under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
A three-judge panel ordered a preliminary injunction on Tuesday that, for now, keeps in place Alabama’s 2024 congressional map, which includes two majority-Black districts that were intended to give equal representation to Black voters who make up a third of the state’s population. The ruling is a moment of reprieve for Black voters in a long and winding legal battle in the former Confederate state that enslaved hundreds of thousands of African Americans.
According to the Associated Press, lawyers on behalf of Black Alabamians argued that the same panel of judges in 2023 ruled that the state map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters. They also argued that the new map passed by Alabama Republicans, which would eliminate the Democratic-leaning district held by freshman U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, created mayhem in the middle of an election year. The state’s other majority-Black district is represented by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democrat.
Despite the victory for Black voters, the state could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already ruled against a similar two-Black-majority district map in Louisiana, arguing that it is racially discriminatory against white voters under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
“I am pleased with the Court’s decision, but this case is still not over,” said Rep. Figures in a statement after the Alabama court ruling. “Although we expected the Court to reach this decision given the overwhelming evidence, we fully expect the state to immediately appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. This is a significant step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go before this fight is settled.”
Since the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling on April 29, which amended Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and made it harder to prove racial discrimination in redistricting, a wave of southern states controlled by Republicans — including Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida — have redrawn their congressional maps, targeting majority-Black districts held by mostly Black members of Congress.
The deliberate targeting of districts where a plurality of Black voters determines the outcome of elections has been vehemently condemned by voting rights advocates and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), which joined the NAACP in calling for an athletic and financial boycott at public universities in states where the power of Black voters has been diluted.
“Our goal is to ensure that Black communities can elect candidates of their choice. These are states with long-standing histories of racial discrimination, both at the ballot box and in all walks of life,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson previously told theGrio. “As the redistricting process unfolds, primarily in the south, the former Confederate states, it will be absolutely evident what’s taking place. Race is the predominant factor.”
The CBC also recently called on all U.S. companies to speak out against the redistricting campaigns intended to boost Republicans in the November midterm elections, as directed by President Donald Trump, who is seeking to retain control of Congress to further execute his deeply unpopular political agenda.
“Five years ago, corporations across America publicly affirmed that democracy, racial equity, and voting rights matter. Today, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Callais decision, those commitments are being tested in real time,” said U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Corporations that have profited from Black consumers, relied on Black workers, and benefited from Black communities cannot remain silent while Black political representation is dismantled in plain sight. Silence in this moment is not neutrality — it is complicity.”
Clarke added, “The Congressional Black Caucus is calling on Corporate America to publicly reaffirm its commitment to voting rights, equal representation, and the democratic principles so many companies pledged to uphold just a few years ago. Every institution that claims to believe in democracy has a responsibility to act like it.”