Supreme Court decision puts Alabama maps back in play
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Illustration: Rebecca Zisser / Axios
Alabama moved quickly to capitalize on last week's Supreme Court decision on how the Voting Rights Act applies to redistricting.
Why it matters: The move could throw Alabama's congressional districts into limbo with primary elections approaching May 19.
- The decision also could impact cases brought against Madison County, and at the state Senate level.
Catch up quick: Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed three emergency motions last week, the day after the Lousiana v. Callais Supreme Court decision.
- The motions ask SCOTUS to expedite appeals in Alabama's congressional redistricting cases, to vacate lower-court rulings blocking the Legislature's 2023 map and to send the cases back for further proceedings following the Callais decision.
What they're saying: "What the court did was very much what we've argued from the beginning," Marshall told Axios on Friday.
- When courts look at redistricting in the South, it's Black and white, but everywhere else it's under the lens of red and blue, he said.
The latest: Gov. Kay Ivey called the Legislature into a special session to create a bill for a special primary election for U.S. House districts and Alabama State Senate districts that could be impacted by potential Supreme Court action on the filings.
- The session starts at 4pm Monday, and Ivey said in a statement that she expects it to be completed within five days.
- With the primary approaching, "timing right now is critically important," Marshall said, and that "it's an open question" as to what happens if the court were to act after that date.
Zoom out: The Callais decision could spur major redistricting efforts across the South, potentially bolstering Republicans' majority in the House by 19 seats compared with 2024 maps.
- On whether the ultimate goal is to use the 2023 maps or draw new ones, Marshall said "that's a legislative question" as opposed to a legal one.
Case in point: A lawsuit filed in district court last year alleges the Madison County Commission is in violation of Section 2 of the VRA.
- A judge denied a motion to dismiss that case in February, per the Legal Defense Fund.
- The case argues the commission's current system — with six districts and one at-large seat — left Black residents able to elect only one out of seven seats even though they represent 25% of voters.
On the state Senate level, a 2021 case challenging Montgomery and Huntsville-area districts received a mixed ruling last year, finding no Section 2 violations in Huntsville's District 7, but finding a violation in Montgomery-area districts 25 and 26.
- Marshall told Axios he expects movement on that case "in the coming days."
The other side: Rep. Shomari Figures, Democratic representative for District 2, said in a statement that the Supreme Court decision would spur redistricting efforts to "drastically reduce the number of realistic opportunities to elect Black members to Congress."
- Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell, (AL-07) called the Supreme Court decision "a devastating blow to American democracy and a death sentence for the Voting Rights Act."