Supreme Court news: Justices reject Alabama GOP congressional map under Voting Rights Act
by Kaelan Deese, Supreme Court Reporter |
June 08, 2023 10:37 AM
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Alabama discriminated against black voters during its redistricting process last year, a decision that relied on the Voting Rights Act.
The ruling in Allen v. Milligan means that Alabama will have to redraw its congressional map to include a second majority-black district. The 5-4 decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and saw Justice Brett Kavanaugh join, marking an alliance between two conservatives and three liberals in the majority.
With the help of Roberts and Kavanaugh, the decision tells Alabama it should have created a second black-majority district, upholding a three-judge panel that threw out the previous map that included only one district with a majority of black voters despite African Americans comprising more than a quarter of the state's population.
Abha Khanna, an attorney with Elias Law Group who argued the case on behalf of the respondents who sued the state, lauded the Supreme Court's decision as an upholding of the district court's decision using "decades of established precedent."
"Thankfully, the court today identified Alabama’s redistricting scheme as a textbook violation of the landmark civil rights law," Khanna said.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/scotus-reject-gop-redistricting-map-in-alabama-under-voting-rights