Judges Hear Alabama Congressional Map Arguments

The decades-old battle over voting rights in Alabama continues.

From 1965 to 2013, Alabama had to seek federal preclearance for any voting changes under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That requirement was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 in the Shelby County v. Holder ruling. State civil rights leaders and West Alabama Democrat Congresswoman Terri Sewell have been working to get that requirement restored ever since.

Yesterday, U.S. Circuit Judges Stanley Marcus, Anna M. Manasco, and Terry F. Moorer heard arguments over the request from the plaintiffs in a lawsuit to put Alabama back under federal oversight.

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court found Alabama likely violated a section of the Voting Rights Act when it redrew congressional districts. That ruling by the Republican-dominated high court gave hope to Democrats that the 2013 ruling could be overturned.

After Alabama lawmakers failed to achieve a map reflecting the state's population, the federal courts intervened. Before last year's elections, the court ordered a map to be redrawn that would create a second majority minority district. It made a District Two in southern Alabama that led to the election of Democrat Shomari Figures as the second black member of the Alabama Congressional Delegation, Rep. Sewell being the other in District Seven.

Alabama is vehemently opposing any return to preclearance.

“Preclearance flips the burden on the State to prove its innocence. That power is extraordinary,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office wrote in a court filing opposing the plaintiff's request.

Unlike last year, when the Democrat Biden Administration was in power, the U.S. Justice Department now supports Alabama in opposing a return to federal oversight. DOJ wrote in a court prefiling that, “Preclearance is permissible only when jurisdictions have engaged in pervasive, flagrant, widespread, and rampant discrimination.”

Plaintiffs in the case believe that is just what Alabama did when they evaded attempts to add a second majority minority district based on population demographics. Plaintiff lawyers called those attempts 'blatant gerrymandering. '

The judges who heard yesterday's arguments are the same three, one Democrat and two Republican appointees, who permanently blocked Alabama from using the state-drawn map that was ruled to be unfair to black voters. The state is appealing that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Congress, Rep. Sewell has sponsored the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. It would restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and prevent states and localities with a history of voter discrimination from restricting voting access by restoring preclearance. With Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, Sewell's bill is not likely to pass.

In June, Sewell marked the 12th anniversary of the Shelby County vs Holder ruling, writing on her Facebook page, “John Lewis (late Alabama native and Georgia congressman) didn’t get bludgeoned on a bridge in Selma just for Congress to sit by as extremists chip away at our fundamental freedoms."