gerrymandering

Republican U.S. House member Barry Moore of Alabama announced that he is running for the U.S. Senate, seeking the position being vacated by Senator Tommy Tuberville who is running for governor.

The Alabama Public Radio news team was recognized by the National Association of Black Journalists with a national “Salute to Excellence” award. The honor was announced at the group’s 50th anniversary convention in Cleveland over the weekend. APR received the national award for “Best Public Affairs Segment."

Federal judges ordered Alabama to continue using a court-selected congressional map for the rest of the decade, but they declined to put the state back under the pre-clearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. The decision is to keep the U.S. House district 2 map in place until 2030. What happens after that appears unclear. The APR news team spent eight months investigating issues surrounding the new U.S. House seat along the state’s “black belt.” Congressman Shomari Figures was interviewed about the new district on “APR Notebook.”

A spat over congressional redistricting in Texas marks the latest episode in a long national history of gerrymandering. Democratic lawmakers have fled Texas to try to block Republicans from redrawing congressional districts in their favor. The term "gerrymander" originated over 200 years ago to describe political manipulation in legislative districts. A fight before the U.S. Supreme Court that created Alabama’s new U.S. House in District 2 shows how new maps can be challenged. The legal case was featured in Alabama Public Radio’s new interview program “APR Notebook.”

Federal judges on Tuesday sharply questioned lawyers on a request to make Alabama subject again to the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act after courts ruled the state intentionally diluted the voting strength of Black residents.

All sides are preparing arguments for a three judge panel over how Alabama draws future voting maps. A three-judge federal panel has scheduled a hearing one week from today on whether federal oversight is needed for Alabama. Criticism was made over how conservative handled the creation of the new minority U.S. House seat in District two.

Alabama Public Radio was among the news organizations to be recognized during the Society of Professional Journalists “Green Eyeshade Awards,” which observed its seventy fifth anniversary as the nation’s oldest and largest regional competition to judge the best journalism in the southeast. APR received a First Place for “Best Documentary” for its eight month investigation into Alabama’s newly redrawn U.S. House Seat in District two, in the state’s impoverished Black Belt region.

I talked with Alabama's newest member of Congress about the possible future impact on the state from Donald Trump's so called Big, beautiful Bill. Democratic U.S. House member Shomari Figures is the first person elected to Alabama's newly redrawn district two the US Supreme Court ordered the new voting map to better represent African Americans.

Federal judges will weigh a request to bring Alabama back under the pre-clearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act after ruling the state intentionally diluted the voting strength of Black residents when drawing congressional lines. The three judge panel will hear arguments on July 29th over whether any future changes to the state’s voting map should be made under federal review. The current fight resulted in a redrawn District two, now held by Democrat Shomari Figures, will be the subject of tonight’s APR Notebook at 7 p.m. on Alabama Public Radio.

The Supreme Court on Friday put off ruling on a second Black majority congressional district in Louisiana, instead ordering new arguments in the fall. The case is being closely watched because at arguments in March several of the court's conservative justices suggested they could vote to throw out the map and make it harder, if not impossible, to bring redistricting lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act.