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Since Alabama Republicans Refused to Do Right By Black Voters, A Federal Court Is Stepping In

GOP lawmakers repeatedly refused to draw a map with two black districts, so a judge told them to move, get out the way.

After seemingly endless rounds of back and forth over Alabamaโ€™s congressional map, a panel of judges has decided to take it out of lawmakerโ€™s hands. On Tuesday, federal judges ruled that they will draft a new map after Republican lawmakers refused to draw a map that included a second majority Black district.

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In June, the Supreme Court ruled that Alabamaโ€™s map violated the rights of Black voters by only having one majority Black district, despite Black Americans making up over a quarter of the stateโ€™s population. The justices ordered Alabama to draft a map with a second majority Black district โ€œor something quite close to it.โ€

Despite pretty clear instructions, the GOP-led statehouse ended up drafting a map with only one majority Black district. Understandably, this didnโ€™t fly with the judges, who said they were โ€œdisturbedโ€ by the state lawmakerโ€™s actions. The court ordered a special master to be put in charge of issuing a new map.

โ€œWe are not aware of any other case in which a state legislature โ€” 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 โ€” responded with a plan that the state concedes does not provide that district,โ€ wrote the judges.

The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case likened Alabamaโ€™s GOP to the intransigence demonstrated by segregationists like George Wallace.

โ€œSixty years ago, former Governor George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door to stop Black people from desegregating the University of Alabama,โ€ they said in a statement. โ€œHe moved only when the federal government forced him to do so. History is repeating itself, and the district courtโ€™s decision confirms that Alabama is again on the losing side. We demand that Alabama again move out of the way and obey our laws โ€” we demand our voting rights.โ€

Alabama Republicans have already signaled that they plan to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, which means, unfortunately, this chapter isnโ€™t over just yet.

Straight From The Root

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