Alabama's legislature recently concluded a special session to redraw Alabama's congressional districts mandated by the federal courts — including a 5–4 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a state where 27 percent of the residents are Black, the federal government argued — and the argument was supported by the courts — that more than one of the seven congressional districts should be expected to elect a Black representative. Not so. Historically, only one district was configured to elect a Black representative, which the federal government viewed as a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Agreeing with the federal government, the court ordered the legislature to create
“an additional majority-Black congressional district, or an additional district in which Black voters otherwise have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.”
Providing further guidance, the judges wrote,
"As the Legislature considers such plans, it should be mindful of the practical reality … that any remedial plan will need to include two districts in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it."
The legislature's solution, according to the Alabama Reflector:
GOP maps created a new 7th Congressional District in the western Black Belt with a bare majority of Black voters (it ended up at 50.65 percent) and a new 2nd Congressional District in southeast Alabama with a Black population that ranged from 38 to 42 percent.
Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, who co-chaired the reapportionment committee, said while the district wasn’t majority-Black, Black voters would have the "opportunity" to elect leaders of their choice, according to the Alabama Reflector.
Opportunity doesn't mean the outcome is likely. I can buy a lottery ticket, with the outcome most assuredly the opposite of what I hope. A population that's 38 to 42 percent hardly meets the criteria of "a voting-age majority or something quite close to it."
So it's back to court, the Alabama legislature wasting taxpayer money to defend Jim Crow.
However, my assessment may be too harsh. A thought experiment written by Brian Lyman posits the legislature may be motivated more by the fear of retribution from their hard-core voters than racial bias.
Regardless, Alabama's racial infamy lives on.
