Activists Push Back Against Alabama’s Redistricting Plans
The stage is set for tomorrow's fifth and final day of the Alabama Legislature's special session to redistrict before 2030 as agreed to in a 2023 court decree. Both the senate and house bills passed in their committees along party lines this week. Whether they will become law or not depends on if the state gets a thumbs up from the federal court before final adjournment Friday.
The bills' committee approval did not come without a fight from Democrat legislators and the two Democrat members of the Alabama Congressional Delegation who stand to lose at least one of their seats and see the other reconfigured.
West Alabama Democrat Congresswoman Terri Sewell and South Alabama Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures are the only two minorities representing Alabama in congress.
Figures, who was elected after a federal court ruled that the Legislature failed to draw a racially fair congressional map for the second time in 2023, told the committee that if the map reverts to the Legislature’s 2023 map, he is not worried about his job.
“I ran into a gentleman last night, He said, ‘Hey, man, your job is on the line.’ And I told him ‘No, Shomari Figures is going to be okay. Your voice is on the line,’” Figures said.
The committees approved the legislation along party lines, which was met by vocal opposition from audiences watching each proceeding chanting “no justice, no peace” and “end white supremacy.”
Mobile Republican Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Pringle told the meeting that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Louisiana v Callais case that race cannot be used as a deciding factor in redistricting was correct.
“They ruled that racial gerrymanders were unconscious, a violation of the Voting Rights Act, the reason why they undid Louisiana (v. Callais), we believe that this was a clear racial gerrymander, and all we have done is ask the court to reverse it."
If the bills become law, the governor would be allowed to invalidate the results of the May 19 primary in the districts impacted by the proposed map. Ivey could then call a special replacement primary to decide each party’s nominees for the November general election. The winner would be the top vote getter and there would be no runoff.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen and Attorney General Steve Marshall have requested the federal court issue a response to their emergency appeal before the legislature adjourns the special session tomorrow.
Both the house and the senate convene at 9:00 Friday morning.
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