Alabama GOP proposals for second Black district are unlikely to win court approval, experts warn

An Alabama Senate committee discusses a proposal to draw new congressional district lines on Thursday, July 20, 2023 in Montgomery, Ala. Alabama lawmakers face a July 21 deadline to draw new congressional lines after the U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a finding that the current state map with one majority-Black district out of seven in a state that is 27% Black likely violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

A three-judge panel ruled in 2022 that the current legislative map likely violates the federal Voting Rights Act and said any map should include two districts where “Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.

Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, a Jasper Republican, said the Senate plan focuses more on keeping communities together and keeping districts as compact as possible, and less on Black voting-age population. But those who study redistricting say that’s simply not enough, considering how sharply Alabama voters divide along racial lines.

Republican lawmakers hope to showcase the issues of compactness and unified communities in court. They're hoping a second round of litigation, or even another trip to the Supreme Court, will let them avoid creating giving a second of Alabama’s seven congressional districts to a Democrat.

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