09/06/2023

Alabama to Ask SCOTUS to Keep Republican-drawn Electoral Map

This is the second time judges threw out a map with gerrymandered boundaries

Alabama's Republican-backed congressional map illegally dilutes Black residents' voting power and must be redrawn, a panel of three federal judges ruled on Tuesday, a decision that the state said it would appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

That appeal plan escalated the stakes of a judicial decision that boosted Democratic chances to win back a U.S. House of Representatives majority in the 2024 congressional elections.

The lower court's ruling marked the second time that the judges threw out a map delineating the boundaries of the seven U.S. House districts in Alabama put in place by the Republican-controlled state legislature. The three-judge panel in Birmingham wrote that it saw little reason to give the state legislature a third chance. Instead, a court-appointed special master will create a new electoral map ahead of next year's vote, the judges decided.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Reuters.