{"id":2022310,"date":"2023-09-05T14:51:04","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T18:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-court-strikes-down-alabama-congressional-map-after-lawmakers-defy-court-order\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T14:56:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T18:56:34","slug":"federal-court-strikes-down-alabama-congressional-map-after-lawmakers-defy-court-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-court-strikes-down-alabama-congressional-map-after-lawmakers-defy-court-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama&#8217;s congressional map invalidated by federal court due to lawmakers&#8217; defiance of court order."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffederal-court-strikes-down-alabama-congressional-map-after-lawmakers-defy-court-order%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2022310&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Federal Court Strikes Down Alabama&#8217;s \u2063Congressional\u200b Map<\/h2>\n<p>A federal court on \u2062Sept. 5 struck down the\u2063 Alabama\u200b Legislature\u2019s congressional map\u200c that was drawn in \u2063July, finding that \u2064state lawmakers failed to follow an earlier court order requiring that they adhere to the federal Voting\u200b Rights Act.<\/p>\n<p>The court ordered that \u200ca\u2062 special master and a cartographer would have to prepare a new,\u2062 statutorily compliant map.<\/p>\n<p>The 217-page \u200corder\u200c (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/documents\/39def3a0-b56a-480d-bdf7-92f0e69fc1b4.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) by the U.S. \u200cDistrict\u200b Court for the Northern District of Alabama suggests\u200d state\u200b lawmakers \u200bin the Republican-controlled legislature didn\u2019t try to comply with the court\u2019s order\u2064 that \u2064it draw an electoral map consistent with the\u200d provisions of\u200b the \u200bVoting\u200d Rights Act.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related\u2063 Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/supreme-court-strikes-down-republican-drawn-election-map-for-alabama-5320336\">Supreme Court Strikes Down\u200b Republican-Drawn Election Map for Alabama<\/a> \u2062- 6\/8\/2023<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/no-need-to-racially-gerrymander-electoral-map-alabama-tells-supreme-court-4773686\">No Need to Racially Gerrymander Electoral Map, Alabama \u2063Tells Supreme Court<\/a> -\u200d 10\/4\/2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe do not take lightly federal intrusion into\u200b a process ordinarily \u2064reserved\u2062 for the State Legislature. But we have now said twice that this \u2063Voting Rights Act case is not close,\u201d the \u2064judges wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd we are deeply troubled that the \u200dState enacted a map that the \u200bState readily admits \u200cdoes not provide the remedy we\u200c said federal law requires.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are\u200b disturbed by the evidence \u200dthat the State delayed remedial proceedings \u2063but ultimately did not \u200ceven nurture the\u200d ambition to provide the required\u2064 remedy. And we are struck \u2063by the extraordinary circumstance we face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe \u2063are not \u200baware of any other case in which a state legislature\u2014faced\u200c with a federal court order declaring that its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-court-strikes-down-alabama-congressional-map-after-lawmakers-defy-court-order\/\" title=\"Alabama's congressional map invalidated by federal court due to lawmakers' defiance of court order.\">electoral\u2062 plan unlawfully dilutes minority votes<\/a> and requiring a\u200d plan that provides an \u2063additional\u200c opportunity district\u2014responded with a \u2062plan that the state\u200b concedes \u200ddoes not provide that district. \u2062The\u2062 law\u2064 requires\u200c the creation of an additional district that affords Black Alabamians, like everyone else, a fair \u2064and reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The \u20642023 Plan plainly fails\u200b to do \u200bso.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u2062 panel did not accept \u2064the state\u2019s argument that drawing a second black-majority district\u2062 would unconstitutionally constitute \u201caffirmative action in redistricting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnlike affirmative action\u200c in\u200b the admissions programs the Supreme Court analyzed in Harvard, \u2064which was expressly aimed at achieving balanced racial outcomes\u2062 in the makeup of the \u200buniversities\u2019 student bodies, \u2064the Voting Rights Act guarantees only \u2018equality of\u200d opportunity, \u200bnot \u200da guarantee of electoral success\u200d for minority-preferred candidates of whatever race,\u2019\u201d the panel wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2064 Harvard reference was to Students for \u2064Fair Admissions Inc.\u2062 v. President \u2062and Fellows of\u2064 Harvard College, a June decision in which the Supreme \u2062Court\u200d struck down the use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-says-packing-supreme-court-could-politicize-it-forever\/\" title=\"Biden warns against permanently politicizing Supreme Court with court packing.\">racially discriminatory admissions policies<\/a> at U.S. colleges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Voting Rights Act\u2064 does not\u2063 provide a leg up for Black voters\u2014it merely prevents them from being kept down with regard to what is arguably \u200dthe most \u2018fundamental political\u2064 right,\u2019 in that it \u2064is \u2018preservative of all rights\u2019\u2014the\u200c right to \u200bvote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new decision was \u200bissued \u200dby\u200b a three-member panel: Judge\u200b Stanley \u200dMarcus \u2064of\u2062 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, appointed\u200c by President Bill Clinton; and\u200b District \u2064Judges Anna \u200bManasco and Terry \u2063Moorer, both of whom were appointed by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<h2>Preliminary Injunction<\/h2>\n<p>In January 2022, the district court issued a preliminary injunction against Alabama\u2019s then-secretary of \u2062state, John \u200bMerrill, a\u2062 Republican, temporarily forbidding him from conducting any \u2064congressional elections in the state. Merrill has since been succeeded by Wes Allen, also a Republican.<\/p>\n<p>The court found that\u200b instead of having\u2062 one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-need-to-racially-gerrymander-electoral-map-alabama-tells-supreme-court\/\" title=\"No Need to Racially Gerrymander Electoral Map, Alabama Tells Supreme Court\">predominantly black congressional district<\/a>, as it currently has, federal law and existing legal precedents required the state to\u2063 have two predominantly \u200bblack\u2062 districts.<\/p>\n<p>Even though\u2063 27 percent\u200b of Alabama\u2019s population is\u200d black, white voters are\u200c reportedly the majority\u2062 in \u200dsix \u200bof \u2063the\u200b state\u2019s seven <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-house-gop-campaign-chief-to-democrats-you-can-either-retire-or-lose-next-fall\/\" title=\"Exclusive \u2014 House GOP Campaign Chief to Democrats: \u2018You Can Either Retire, or Lose Next Fall\u2019\">current congressional districts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s delegation to \u2064the U.S. House of Representatives currently consists of six Republicans and one Democrat. \u2062Both \u200cof\u2062 the\u2062 state\u2019s U.S. senators\u200b are\u2064 Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>The new ruling came after the Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/supreme-court-strikes-down-republican-drawn-election-map-for-alabama-5320336\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">voted<\/a> 5\u20134 on June 8 to \u200dstrike\u2064 down Alabama\u2019s electoral map \u200dfor congressional elections, ruling that \u200bit was racially discriminatory.<\/p>\n<p>The nation\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-case-over-whether-unborn-babies-have-constitutional-rights\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Declines To Hear Case Over Whether Unborn Babies Have Constitutional Rights\">highest court found<\/a> in Allen v. Milligan\u00a0that the map drafted by Alabama Republicans was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal court invalidated Alabama Legislature&#8217;s July-drawn congressional map on Sept. 5. State lawmakers were found to have disregarded a previous court order to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act. The court mandated a special master and a cartographer to create a new, legally required map.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":2022311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2022310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2022310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2022311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2022310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2022310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2022310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}