Alabama GOP leaders say the state’s new Congressional map is in keeping with the order of a three judge panel. Critics say the new district lines defy an order from the U.S Supreme Court prohibiting racial gerrymandering. The dispute apparently comes down to what defines greater representation for African American Voters. The nation’s highest court upheld the lower court ruling that ordered Alabama to redraw its map to create A second black majority Congressional district or something close to it. State lawmakers kept one black majority district and then increased African American voting strength from about thirty percent to forty percent in a second district. In an APR interview heard nationally on NPR, Alabama GOP chairman John Wahl says that’s a fair outcome…
“If you look at what the lower court actually said they never required two minority districts,” Wahl asserts. “And I think that's important because there's a lot of things that go into a map besides just the population of different demographics.”
Opponents said the new map flouted a directive from the panel to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it” so that Black voters “have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.” The 140-seat Alabama Legislature has 33 Black lawmakers. All but one are Democrats. John Wahl of the Alabama GOP says there’s more at stake than just African American representation
“There's things like keeping community of interest together, the compactness of the map. And I think those are things that the lower court is going to look at, and things that we saw the state legislature work on as this map moved through their process,” Wahl said.
Voting rights advocates and Black lawmakers say the new map harkens back to the days of the Jim Crowe south, where Black voters were treated unfairly. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said the map, “and the Republican politicians who supported it, would make George Wallace proud,” referring to the segregationist former Alabama governor.
“It arrogantly defies a very conservative United States Supreme Court decision ... from just weeks ago,” Holder said in a statement.
