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Supreme Court orders voting maps redrawn in Alabama

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Reeko, Jun 8, 2023.

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  1. Reeko

    Reeko Member

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    The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down Republican-drawn congressional districts in Alabama that civil rights activists say discriminated against Black voters in a surprise reaffirmation of the landmark Voting Rights Act.

    The court on a 5-4 vote ruled against Alabama, meaning the map of the seven congressional districts, which heavily favors Republicans, will now be redrawn. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, both conservatives, joined the court's three liberals in the majority.

    In doing so, the court — which has a 6-3 conservative majority — turned away the state’s effort to make it harder to remedy concerns raised by civil rights advocates that the power of Black voters in states like Alabama is being diluted by dividing voters into districts where white voters dominate.

    The two consolidated cases arose from litigation over the new congressional district map that was drawn by the Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature after the 2020 census. The challengers, including individual voters and the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, said the map violated Section 2 of the 1965 voting rights law by discriminating against Black voters.

    The new map created one district out of seven in the state in which Black voters would likely be able to elect a candidate of their choosing. The challengers say that the state, which has a population that is more than a quarter Black, should have two such districts and provided evidence that such a district could be drawn.

    A lower court agreed in a January 2022 ruling, saying that under Supreme Court precedent, the plaintiffs had shown that Alabama’s Black population was both large enough and sufficiently compact for there to be a second majority-Black district. The court ordered a new map to be drawn, but the state’s Republican attorney general, Steve Marshall, turned to the Supreme Court, which put the litigation on hold and agreed to hear the case.

    The Supreme Court was divided 5-4 in allowing the new map to be used in November’s election, with conservative Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s three liberals in dissent.

    Republicans won six of the seven seats in the election, while Democrats won the majority-Black district. With Black voters more likely to vote for Democrats, Democrats might have picked up an additional seat if a new map had been adopted.

    The Alabama case was one of several in which the Supreme Court’s decisions may have contributed to Republicans winning their fragile majority in the House of Representatives.

    Alabama argued that the lower court put too much emphasis on race in reaching its conclusions. Marshall said in court papers that the fact that the challengers were able to show that it was possible to draw a second majority-Black district was not sufficient evidence that the state’s actions were discriminatory. He cited other traditional “race-neutral” map-drawing factors that take into account such issues as regional culture and identity, as well as the requirement that districts have similar-sized populations.

    The Supreme Court has in two cases over the last decade weakened the Voting Rights Act, beginning in 2013 when it gutted a key provision of the law that allowed for federal oversight of election law changes in certain states. In a 2021 ruling arising from Arizona, the court made it more difficult to bring cases under Section 2.

    The case is one of three the court is hearing in the current term in which conservative lawyers are pushing what they call race-neutral arguments favored on the right as a way to remedy race discrimination. In the others, the court could end affirmative action in college admissions and strike down part of a law that gives preference to Native American seeking to adopt Native American children.

    The court is also considering another significant election-related dispute in its current term, with the court set to rule on a Republican effort to curb the ability of state courts to enforce state constitutional provisions in federal elections. That ruling, due before the end of June, could make it easier for Republican legislatures to restrict voting rights.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna64476


     
    #1 Reeko, Jun 8, 2023
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  2. Xerobull

    Xerobull You son of a b!tch! I'm in!

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    This is a big deal.
     
    #2 Xerobull, Jun 8, 2023
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  3. NewRoxFan

    NewRoxFan Contributing Member

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    #3 NewRoxFan, Jun 8, 2023
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  4. Andre0087

    Andre0087 Member

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    I'm definitely reading that later today...
     
    #4 Andre0087, Jun 8, 2023
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  5. ROCKSS

    ROCKSS Contributing Member

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    I am sure his "friend" is not happy with this ruling. Clarence has shown his true colors, I have no respect for him or his outdated opinions........take your nutjob wife on an RV trip and leave the rulings to the adults
     
    #5 ROCKSS, Jun 8, 2023
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  6. Andre0087

    Andre0087 Member

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    It's gonna be interesting to see how they rule on the ISL theory, that IMO is a bigger case than this one.
     
    #6 Andre0087, Jun 8, 2023
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  7. IBTL

    IBTL Member
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    Hell yeah.
     
    #7 IBTL, Jun 8, 2023
  8. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    You know the gerrymandering is bad when even this SCOTUS won't tolerate it.
     
    #8 JuanValdez, Jun 8, 2023
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  9. Amiga

    Amiga 10 years ago...
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    That's twice (I think) Kavanaugh voted with the liberals this year. Damn all of you liberals that hated on him.
     
    #9 Amiga, Jun 8, 2023
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  10. Amiga

    Amiga 10 years ago...
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    *racial* gerrymandering; it's sad that this was an UNEXPECTED ruling

    if only they had not allowed partisan gerrymandering...
     
    #10 Amiga, Jun 8, 2023
  11. fchowd0311

    fchowd0311 Contributing Member

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    Clearance Thomas's sugar daddies are not going to accept this.
     
    #11 fchowd0311, Jun 8, 2023
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  12. No Worries

    No Worries Contributing Member

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    ... but not before the 2022 elections in Alabama. FTW!
     
    #12 No Worries, Jun 8, 2023
  13. geeimsobored

    geeimsobored Contributing Member

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    In addition to the Alabama case, there are open or pending cases in Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Louisiana already had a court rule that its map was a racial gerrymander so that one should result in a second seat for Democrats while Florida and Georgia seem like decent opportunities given their geography.

    South Carolina has bad geography so while numerically there are enough African Americans to justify a second seat, the population isn't distributed in a way that would enable a compact second district.

    You're looking at least two pickups for Democrats (Alabama and Louisiana) with the potential for more beyond that. Not to mention lawsuits at the state and local level. Combine that with the impending New York redistricting that could add up to 6 new seats for Democrats and you basically have enough to more than offset the North Carolina redrawing as well as the possible Ohio redrawing. And this isn't factoring the new Wisconsin Supreme Court that could add at least one (if not two) seats for Democrats there (although that one will depend on the ISL case before the court).
     
    #13 geeimsobored, Jun 8, 2023
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  14. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Contributing Member

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    1/7 = 14.2%
    27 * (3/5) = 16%

    Seems like blacks were "counted" more during the Good Ol Days.

    Does this sound about right Originalists?
     
    #14 Invisible Fan, Jun 8, 2023
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  15. Nook

    Nook Member

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    Roberts and to a lesser extent Kavanaugh are predictable. They give a surprise ruling on a case that is limited, and that allows them to **** over American's on their next 5 rulings. It is a pattern now with Roberts.
     
    #15 Nook, Jun 8, 2023
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  16. Andre0087

    Andre0087 Member

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    Exactly, I hope that's not the case but we shall see soon enough.
     
    #16 Andre0087, Jun 8, 2023
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  17. Nook

    Nook Member

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    While I am thinking about - Clarence Thomas is really misunderstood.

    Liberals and conservatives think he loves white people - he does not. He really does not trust white people, he thinks that white people are basically all racist. He was even against inter-racial dating and marriage before he met his wife. He votes the way he does because he doesn't want white people having anything to do with black people. He hates that people question whether he went to the schools he did because of affirmative action. He is REALLY big on the individual black person doing it all themselves. Yes - I am aware of the inconsistences between what he does and says.
     
    #17 Nook, Jun 8, 2023
  18. geeimsobored

    geeimsobored Contributing Member

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    To add another wrinkle, Thomas has voted with liberals on cases involving racial gerrymanders. He's quite idiosyncatic and inconsistent but he wasn't a total hack like Alito. Even during the Trump Administration, Thomas voted with the Liberals to strike down maps on grounds of racial gerrymandering. But nowadays, he's just gone full hack like Alito.
     
    #18 geeimsobored, Jun 8, 2023
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2023
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  19. geeimsobored

    geeimsobored Contributing Member

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    To add another wrinkle, Thomas has voted with liberals on cases involving racial gerrymanders. He's quite idiosyncatic and inconsistent but he wasn't a total hack like Alito. Even during the Trump Administration, Thomas voted with the Liberals to strike down maps on grounds of racial gerrymandering. But nowadays, he's just gone full hack like Alito.
     
    #19 geeimsobored, Jun 8, 2023
    Nook likes this.
  20. HTM

    HTM Member

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    Conservative justices rule against the way you want = hate and negativity

    Conservative justices rule the way you want = more hate and negativity

    laughable
     
    #20 HTM, Jun 8, 2023
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