By Mike Cason
The Alabama Legislature could be headed toward a July special session to draw a new congressional district map.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked a three-judge federal court to give the Legislature a chance to draw a new congressional district map by July 21. Marshall filed the request with the court Thursday.
Lawyers representing Black voters and the organizations who filed lawsuits challenging the map filed a separate motion Thursday also asking the court to give the Legislature until July 21 to draw a new map.
The court held a status conference with the lawyers Friday morning and agreed with the proposed schedule. The court also agreed that if the plaintiffs challenge a new plan passed by the Legislature that it would hold a hearing on August 14.
The court has experts in place to draw a map if the Legislature fails to approve a map by July 21. In that case, the court-drawn map would be used in the 2024 election.
For a plan to be approved by July 21, Gov. Kay Ivey would have to call a special session of the Legislature to start no later than July 17. It takes a minimum of five days to approve a new plan.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 8 that Alabama’s congressional map, with six majority white districts and one majority Black, most likely violates the Voting Rights Act because it dilutes the Black vote. Blacks make up 27% of the state’s population. The justices said the Black population is geographically compact enough for a second majority-Black or near majority-Black district that is reasonably configured.
The Supreme Court decision returned the case to the three-judge court, which had ruled last year the map likely violated the Voting Rights Act. The three-judge court had issued a preliminary injunction to block the state from using the district map in the 2022 elections. The Supreme Court put a hold on that injunction and allowed the map to be used last year. But the June 8 ruling means that the preliminary injunction is back in place, and the state must come up with a new map before the 2024 election.
The three-judge court ruled last year that a new map must have a second majority Black district or an additional district where Black voters have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice to meet the requirements of the Voting Rights Act.
The three judges, Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, District Judge Anna M. Manasco, and District Judge Terry F. Moorer, are holding a status conference with the lawyers on Friday morning.
The litigation involves three similar lawsuits known by the names of the lead plaintiffs, the Milligan case, the Caster case, and the Singleton case.
