Supreme Court rejects Alabama’s attempt to avoid creating a second Black majority congressional district
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an emergency bid from Alabama, setting the stage for a new congressional map likely to include a second Black majority district to account for the state’s 27% Black population.
The one-line order reflects that the feelings on the court haven’t changed since June when a 5-4 Supreme Court affirmed a lower court that had ordered the state to redraw its seven-seat congressional map to include a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it.”
There were no noted dissents.
The case has been closely watched because after the court’s June ruling, Alabama GOP lawmakers again approved a congressional map with only one majority-Black district, seemingly flouting the Supreme Court’s decision that they provide more political representation for the state’s Black residents.
Shockingly, Clarence Thomas side with the racists.
And it's totally a coincidence that his opinions line up perfectly with the people who regularly bribe him.
He's the butler from Django
Worse, that character in Django Unchained is a House [slave] and they were put in charge of other slaves because they kiss the most ass for literal decades and get to live in the house with the master.
I’m looking at his Mrs thinking, “Get out!”, but he volunteered.
Uncle Clarence (Tom)
The butler in Django wasn’t a Supreme Court justice… so it’s much much worse
I think this is the one time he went with the same members of the court. There were no dissents. Take your guess, is he trying to reduce controversy on himself, or is he pissed that Bama tried to undermine his authority?
Usually the rule of thumb is to follow the money, however in this case it's seeing where the money is not coming from. Having one district in AL flip from Republican to Democrat isn't going to cause Thomas to loose an all expenses paid vacation or a complimentary personal jet trip.
When you have one of the most conservative SCs in history telling you to redraw the lines, you know shit's fucked up. Alabama doesn't care. It's the armpit of the south. Sorry if you're from Alabama, but you know what your state is.
Mississippi in shambles
...more than usual, at any rate
Seriously though, I lived in Mobile and Mississippi was on another level.
Alabama has Huntsville and Auburn and B'Ham that have genuinely good universities and some diversity.
Mississippi has Brett Favre and Elvis. And Elvis moved the hell out as soon as he could.
Special court appointed master already has drawn two black districts. Fucking cope Alabama.
One of these days, Alabama will do something good of its own volition, and we won't have to drag them kicking and screaming away from being racist.
Some day.
Also SCOTUS has been stacked to side with these people, but are taking plenty of heat for a while do this is for now, to prove they’re not corrupt pieces of garbage, until the slow businessmen’s plot completes.
More people need to look at the history of that and where those guys went after they got stopped and only got a slap on the wrist.
Sorry, could you please expound a bit?
Oh dude, you're in for a ride.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot#:~:text=The%20Business%20Plot%20
They went on to become big allies with wealth ministry protestants. (Now days we call them evangelists) And used that alliance to slowly push back FDR's New Deal.
Oh. Yeah I know that, it’s been a while and it’s still happening apparently. I was distracted, my b
Now all they have to do is ignore the court! It's working in Ohio!
It’s wild, but they basically already did. That’s what this decision was about. SCOTUS ordered Alabama to fix their map back in June, and Alabama just straight up ignored them.
I dunno, I kinda see it as a toddler trying to haggle about their bedtime or getting a cookie.
Ohio could do it because the "independent" redistricting commission is run by the governor's son and is only bipartisan in that they were forced to allow democrats on by border initiative that changed the state constitution. Ohios maps didn't have a SCOTUS ruling, just a state Supreme Court ruling and the GOP just had to wait out a year so they could shove a more conservative justice on than the one that was retiring and had sided with the liberal justices.
I wonder if this would still hold in light of Alabama. If you can make the same case that this is diluting an ethnicity's voting power, I think a court would have to overturn it. Especially since Alabama just got bitch slapped here by the court again.
Ohio doesn't have the racial demographic bunching that Alabama does, which from my understanding is who they were able to show easily that the appropriate maps could be drawn and even presented multiple appropriate maps in the Alabama lawsuit. Also Ohio did not sue because of racial gerrymandering, they sued because the maps violated the state constitution. Now that there is a new state SC and Dems did better in 2022 than expected Ohio dropped the suit because they won't win.
Ah damnit
The court ordered that a special master draw the lines for the next election, so it sounds like they've pre-empted the Ohio strategy.
This is painful but we do have a constitutional mechanism for states that can't figure their electoral shit out legally. Their representatives don't get seated. And they don't get electoral college ballots for president.
It's a 200 year old can of political fuckery that we may just have to open.
So to recap:
AL: "Look these maps are totally fine"
SCOTUS: "Nope, redraw them"
AL: "You're the last person I thought would say that, but alright fine. We've made adjustments to comply."
Another court: "No you didn't, you just changed proportions in a way that's unlikely to have any effect"
AL: "Nah it's totally fine!"
Another court: "No it's not. An independent entity will draw the maps since you racist fucks are incapable"
AL: "That is unfair, these maps are fine! Tell them, SCOTUS!"
SCOTUS: "Nope we're not getting involved. The maps are still bad."
...
Seriously though I'm confused why the Court is being... agreeable.
"You're the last person I thought would say that" 😂😂😂
That's not funny. That's sad.
Sometimes you have to choose between laughing and crying 😒
Fair enough. I do frequently have to laugh so I don't cry.
They have enough bad press as it is. Don't want another reason for Congress to start regulating their bribes.
I think here going to try and make their own code of ethics first. That's the impression I get from Kagan and Kavanaugh commenting. It should be interesting to see if the highest court in the land tries weasel words.
The point of the federalist society isn't to just smash and grab power overtly everywhere all at once. They know they can still get the legislative results they want with Alabama having a second black district.
So they aren't going to waste political capital on it.
With the margins that in the House currently it could very well change who holds the House, and accordingly the legislative results.
This is great news! For anyone reading, but especially those in Alabama, make sure to join one of your city/county’s Democratic club/caucus to help organize change at the local level and better influence the direction the Democratic Party takes locally and nationally!
You obviously don't know how messed up the Alabama Democratic party is. They have essentially torn themselves into two factions and provide no support for most of the Democrats that run for office.
Dysfunctional state parties is a symptom of not enough people being involved and a reason for people to get involved.
You would think. But folks in Alabama have been trying to get involved and half the party (the one recognized but the state) rejects them. Which is why Doug Jones and Chris England have been trying to get things working along party lines there. But the other faction ( a black church organization that has a death grip on the part) rejects any diversity and modernization.
Reply All did a set of podcasts about the mess a few years ago called "The Real Enemy". I'd suggest that if you want to understand the history. It's a few years old now, but not much has changed except one of the main folks died and the power transferred to her cronies.
The expert appointed by the district court is Richard Allen, and he has already completed his work and submitted 3 maps for the 3 judge panel to choose from.
This is good news. I think most of what they were doing was to try and delay any changes until after another election.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The case has been closely watched because after the court’s June ruling, Alabama GOP lawmakers again approved a congressional map with only one majority-Black district, seemingly flouting the Supreme Court’s decision that they provide more political representation for the state’s Black residents.
Alabama’s Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, argued that the new map kept communities of interest intact, unifying the so-called Black Belt of the state.
Marshall argued the lower court had erred in requiring that a second majority-Black district be drawn.
“The court gutted the State’s discretion to apply traditional redistricting principles in 2023, by expressly refusing to defer to them when they didn’t yield the ‘right’ racial results,” Marshall said.
Challengers to the map, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the ACLU and others, had urged the justices to reject the state’s bid arguing that the map in question dilutes the power of Black voters.
They charged the state with “unabashedly” defying an opinion the justices issued just three months ago.
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