State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama.Photo: John Woodworth / Getty Images
The Alabama legislature was then ordered to comply with the Voting Rights Act and re-draw districts that accurately reflect the state’s population. Instead, judges say, the Republican legislature proposed an updated map that would continue to benefit Republicans, rather than Black voters.
“We are not aware of any other case in which a state legislature — faced with a federal court order declaring that its electoral plan unlawfully dilutes minority votes and requiring a plan that provides an additional opportunity district — responded with a plan that the state concedes does not provide that district,” the judges said in anew ruling filed Tuesday. “The law requires the creation of an additional district that affords Black Alabamians, like everyone else, a fair and reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The 2023 Plan plainly fails to do so.”
The federal court added that, because the state refused to create a map that would be reflective of the Alabama population, it would appoint a special master to draw a seat in which Black people would be properly represented.
“Based on the evidence before us, including testimony from the Legislators, we have no reason to believe that allowing the Legislature still another opportunity to draw yet another map will yield a map that includes an additional opportunity district,” the court said in its order, noting, “We do not take lightly federal intrusion into a process ordinarily reserved for the State Legislature.”
source: people.com
