Members of Alabama’s largest Black political caucus are filing a lawsuit against powerful figures in the Democratic Party.
The Alabama Democratic Conference claims Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez and others discriminated against Black Democrats after they became the majority of the State Democratic Executive Committee. The alleged discrimination occurred through the passage of new bylaws in 2019.
Bryan Sells is a civil-rights attorney based in Atlanta working on behalf of the ADC. Sells said the ADC’s lawsuit is a continuation one from 30 years ago, which also claimed racial discrimination by the Alabama Democratic Party. The old lawsuit was resolved through a consent decree.
“We think that the recent bylaw change that was made in 2019 by the Alabama Democratic Party violates that consent decree and it dilutes Black voting strength within the party,” Sells said.
Sells also said the new bylaws provide ample evidence that racial discrimination has occurred at the highest levels of the Alabama Democratic Party.
“The numbers really speak for themselves when you look at Black voting strength under the old bylaws and Black voting strength under the new bylaws. It’s pretty simple math to show that the new bylaws give Black voters less opportunity to elect party officials of their choice.”
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. Middle District Court of Alabama by Rev. Randy Kelley, Vice Chair of both the ADC and Alabama Democratic Party; and Janet May, former member of the SDEC and DNC.
