Supreme Court rejects Alabama GOP's redistricting appeal

• The Voting Right Act requires that minority voters are provided with "an equal opportunity to participate in the political process."

Catch up quick: Alabama's Republican-led legislature refused to redraw the state's congressional map in a manner that gave Black voters increased voting power, thus requiring a three-judge panel to intervene in the process.

• "The law requires the creation of an additional district that affords Black Alabamians, like everyone else, a fair and reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The 2023 Plan plainly fails to do so," the panel stated in an opinion rejecting the new map.
• The Supreme Court ruled in June that Black residents of Alabama were illegally underrepresented in Congress after a lawsuit challenging the state's 2021 redistricting map.
• Alabama's GOP lawmakers submitted a map in July that was not significantly different from the existing Congressional map; six of the seven districts had Black populations of 43 percent or less.

What they're saying: Black lawmakers and voting rights activists celebrated the latest SCOTUS ruling.

• "Another big win for Alabama's Black voters," said Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), the state's only Black lawmaker in Congress.