Alabama pursues appeal of ruling striking down districts as racially discriminatory

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s effort to pause a redistricting order would result in two successive elections with a map that is racially discriminatory, opponents of the Legislature’s redistricting plans argued in a court filing Friday.

The plaintiffs urged a three-judge panel to reject Alabama’s efforts to continue to use a congressional map that has been ruled a violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act. They argued that allowing the state to proceed would result in two consecutive congressional elections using a map aimed at diluting the Black vote.

“Thousands of individuals across the state of Alabama suffered this irreparable injury when required to participate in the 2022 congressional elections under a redistricting plan that violated (the Voting Rights Act.) A stay of this Court’s decision would countenance the very same irreparable injury for the 2024 elections, leaving no opportunity for relief until 2026,” lawyers for plaintiffs wrote.

The three-judge panel in 2022 blocked use of the state’s then congressional map that had only one majority-Black district as a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act. The U.S. Supreme Court put that decision on hold as the state appealed so the map stayed in place for the 2022 elections.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a surprise 5-4 ruling in June upheld the panel’s finding. Alabama lawmakers this summer drew new lines that maintained a single majority-Black district. The three-judge panel on Tuesday again ruled that the map was racially discriminatory and ordered a court-appointed special master to submit three proposed new plans to the court by Sept. 25.

Alabama indicated it will pursue another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The state attorney general’s office has argued that Alabama should have “the opportunity to have its appeal heard before the 2023 plan is supplanted by a court-drawn plan that sacrifices traditional redistricting principles in service of racial targets.”