SCOTUS OKs Alabama Congressional Map   06/03 06:17

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a 
congressional map favoring Republicans in this year's elections, blocking a 
lower court ruling that the redistricting plan intentionally discriminates 
against Black people.

   The justices granted the state's emergency appeal to use a map it adopted 
three years ago that has a majority-Black population in just one of its seven 
congressional districts. The three liberal justices dissented.

   The high-court order is the latest development in a redistricting frenzy 
that is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to 
Republicans' slim House majority in the November elections. It comes a day 
before an important deadline that Republican Gov. Kay Ivey had already extended 
in the state's desire to use the map in special primary elections in August.

   The state's Republican leadership went to the Supreme Court last week, the 
day after a three-judge court refused to let the state use its preferred map.

   The lower court had ordered Alabama to use the same court-drawn map it used 
in the 2024 elections that sent two Black Democrats to Congress. Black 
residents comprise a majority or close to it in two of the state's seven 
congressional districts.

   "The Supreme Court's decision gives cover to Alabama and others to 
deliberately and openly discriminate against Black voters without fear of any 
consequence. The Court's shameless decision to reinstate an intentionally 
racially discriminatory map defies any thoughtful or consistent application of 
the law," Deuel Ross, director of litigation for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 
said Tuesday night.

   He said the fund will "continue to throw all of our resources into the fight 
to ensure that Alabama voters have the fair representation that they deserve."

   Shortly after the court acted, Ivey confirmed that the state will use the 
map in special congressional primaries in four districts on Aug. 11.

   "The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what I have said all along and that is 
that Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best. Today's 
decision is a win for the people of Alabama and our elections. Alabama is doing 
our part to keep America strong, and I am proud our state continues to fight 
the fight to ensure activists do not get the final say," Ivey said.

   "I will see y'all at the polls August 11!" she said.

   The order is the latest development in the fallout from last month's Supreme 
Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and 
weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in 
several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting 
districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

   The Alabama cases stretches back several years. The three-judge panel in 
2023 ruled that a map drawn by Republican state lawmakers intentionally diluted 
the voting power of Black citizens. The court said the state, which is about 
27% Black, should have two districts where Black voters are the majority or 
close to it.

   After the Supreme Court's recent ruling in the Louisiana case, Alabama 
officials moved to implement the 2023 state-drawn map. The Supreme Court's 
conservative majority agreed to lift the injunction that had blocked the map's 
use and sent the case back to the three-judge panel for reconsideration in 
light of the Louisiana ruling.

   In the meantime, voters cast ballots in Alabama's May 19 primaries, and Ivey 
set the new special August primaries in the districts affected by the map 
switch.

   Upon further review, the judicial panel said it was standing behind its 
initial finding that there was "undisputed evidence" of intentional racial 
discrimination.

   It said the special congressional primaries should instead proceed under the 
previous court-approved districts.

   The panel was wrong, the high court's conservative majority wrote in an 
unsigned opinion that said the lower court "did not heed the presumption of 
legislative good faith."

   In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor chastised her colleagues for enabling 
what promises to be "a chaotic election, held under a never-before-used 
congressional map that intentionally discriminates against Black Alabamians."

   The use of the court-ordered map led to the 2024 election of U.S. Rep. 
Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. The map put into place by Tuesday's order 
gives the GOP an opportunity to reclaim the south Alabama seat.