The Supreme Court’s landmark verdict favoring black voters in an Alabama redistricting affair has set a surprising stage for Democrats and voting rights activists ahead of the 2024 elections.
If new congressional maps were drawn accurately, districts might exist in Alabama and potentially other states where Black voters could sway the election results, offering a promising boost to Democrats. However, more than three months post the court’s judgment, no advances in map redrawing have been made indicating possibilities of seats held by black congress members.
The Republicans in Alabama are seeking a new hearing on the topic by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Republican lawmakers in Louisiana haven’t bothered to push forward with a new map.
Khadidah Stone, a litigant in the Alabama case, felt the persistent resistance was disappointing yet unsurprising. Indeed, Alabama, where then-Governor George Wallace prevented black students from joining the University of Alabama in 1963, has a historical background of disobeying court orders and depriving Black community rights.
Similarly, Florida replicates this dynamic with Republicans appealing against a verdict benefiting Black voters to a predominantly Republican state Supreme Court.
Lawsuits challenging racially biased congressional maps in several states like Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas have swiftly ensued the Voting Rights Act decision of the Supreme Court in June. The indomitable Republican-controlled legislatures’ resistance casts doubts over the drawing of new maps offering equal representation for Black voters.
How successful this Republican strategy would prove in defying court orders and whether the Supreme Court shelves such manipulative techniques will unfold in the next month.
Shawn Donahue from SUNY Buffalo, an authority on voting rights and redistricting, suggested that the Supreme Court might affirm the lower court’s decision – outright rejecting the latest Alabama congressional map for providing only one majority Black district among seven, in a state where 27% of the residents are black.
The Supreme Court On Black Voters During Elections
The Supreme Court might possibly agree to Alabama’s challenge, catapulting the state’s redistricting plans back to the forefront less than a year after the previous case’s ruling.
Contention continues as Republicans strive to maintain their map while contesting the lower court verdict directing them to set up a second district where Black voters constitute a majority, or nearly so.
The concluding verdict bears significance, as with Republicans holding a narrow majority in the U.S. House, redistricting cases could potentially tip the balance in the chamber next year.
Following its judgment favoring Alabama, the Supreme Court has raised expectations among Democrats by lifting its hold on a similar case from Louisiana, foreseeing the construction of another majority Black congressional district.
However, even if Alabama’s latest plan gets rejected, it wouldn’t instantaneously conclude the case in Louisiana, where District Court Judge Shelly Dick has ordered a drawing of a second majority-Black district. A series of hearings are scheduled to commence on Oct. 3, though the initial verdict of barring the 2022 congressional map drawn by Louisiana’s GOP-controlled Legislature is still being appealed.
