The United States Supreme Court yesterday sided with the black population of Alabama and civil rights organizations by ordering the reversal of a redrawing of electoral constituencies in the southern state that, carried out by the local parliament with a Republican majority, It hurt the African American community.
Alabama has about a 27% black population. But when drawing up a new electoral map after the release of the state census in 2020, Republican lawmakers set six majority-white districts and just one predominantly black district.
Now, the US high court forces the state parliament, chaired by Republican Nathaniel Ledbetter, to create a second district with a black majority to adapt the representation of Alabama in the nation through its seven representatives in the House of Representatives to social reality. : if until now these had been – and in fact are – six whites (Republicans) and one black (a Democrat), it is foreseeable that with the new design they will become five whites (probably conservatives) and two blacks (probably Democrats).
The ruling came as a welcome surprise to voting rights advocates in Alabama and across the country; especially taking into account the composition of the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority of six to three, as well as certain recent rulings that had limited the scope of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by making it easier for states to pass laws and apply contrary electoral redesigns to minorities.
Yesterday's ruling was adopted by five votes in favor and four against, by joining two conservative magistrates, President John Roberts and Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the progressives Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The ruling upholds a previous ruling by the Birmingham Federal District Court, which ruled that the state should have created a second district "in which black voters constitute a majority."
Attorney General Merrick Garland celebrated a ruling that he said “rejects efforts to further erode fundamental voting rights protections and preserves the principle that in the United States, all eligible voters should be able to exercise their constitutional right.” to vote without discrimination based on their race.
