Supreme Court lets Alabama use GOP-backed map of the state's congressional districts

[Celerity]

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/07/1078292766/supreme-court-lets-alabama-use-gop-backed-map-of-the-states-congressional-distri

The U.S. Supreme Court further undercut the Voting Rights Act on Monday, blocking for now the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district in Alabama for the 2022 election. The court's action came on an emergency appeal from Alabama, which challenged a decision by a three-judge federal court panel that included two Trump appointees. The lower court concluded that under the Voting Rights Act, Alabama, a state with a population that is more than one-quarter Black, could reasonably, and therefore must, create two majority-Black districts out of seven congressional districts.

The Supreme Court vote was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court's three liberals in dissent. All four would have refused to intervene now, thus allowing the 2022 election to go forward with a map calling for two majority-Black districts. In contrast, the five-justice majority decision means that for at least another election cycle, Alabama will have just a single majority-Black congressional district, because the primaries are set to take place in May.

While the court has said that outright racial gerrymanders are unconstitutional, it has long interpreted the Voting Rights Act as requiring race to be a major factor in redistricting under certain circumstances — namely when white voters vote as a bloc against Black candidates and when a compact-enough majority-minority district or districts can be drawn so that minorities have a good chance to elect the candidates of their choice.

In the case from Alabama, the state doesn't dispute that there is bloc voting. But it contests the creation of a second majority-Black district because it would divide the suburbs of Mobile. That argument was rejected by the lower court, which noted that the school districts in that area were divided in precisely the same way as the proposed second majority-Black congressional district. But the Supreme Court stopped the lower court's order from going into effect.

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