Alabama GOP Is Playing In People’s Face, Blocks Another Black District Despite Supreme Court Backing

The Supreme Court ordered Alabama to draw a second majority-Black congressional district this week but the state’s GOP leadership is refusing, NBC News reports.

Last year, the Supreme Court called on Alabama to redraw its congressional map in order to include two districts where Black voters make up the voting-age majority. A special session was prompted for the legislature to create at least “something quite close to it” this week.

However, the GOP-controlled legislature is proposing a map with only one majority-Black seat.

There are two maps being considered. One House map would include a second Alabama district that is 42% Black; the other holds a district that is 38% Black. Both options don’t propose giving Black voters a chance at winning congressional seats. Democratic Senator Rodger Smitherman, who serves Birmingham, called the plan nothing but “an opportunity to fail.” Lawmakers are expected to meet on July 21 to select one of those maps or agree on a compromise.

The state’s House Speaker, Nathan Ledbetter, says U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) have already reached out to Republican legislators. McCarthy is worried about keeping his House majority while Tuberville seemed to be shocked that the Supreme Court voted against them.

“He was kind of surprised that we were in the situation,” Ledbetter said. “There are a lot of eyes on Alabama.”

And it’s not just the Roll Tide state that is under a microscope when it comes to its redistricting efforts. Plans in New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and other states could decide control of Congress.

The high court handed down the 5-4 vote in June, according to Business Insider, agreeing with a group of voters that feel the current district map violates the Voting Rights Act. It only includes one Black-majority district out of the state’s seven—in a state that has a 27% population of Black voters. The surprise came from Chief Justice John Roberts and conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who both sided with the court’s three liberal justices.