A three-judge panel permanently blocked Alabama from using a state-drawn map that they said flouted their directive to draw a plan that was fair to Black voters. The decision was not a surprise because the panel ruled against the state twice previously and put a new map in place for last year’s elections.
The judges said that the map drawn by the Alabama Legislature in 2023 violated the Voting Rights Act, just like the one previously drawn by the state.
“The long and short of it is that the 2023 Plan unlawfully dilutes Black voting strength by consigning it to one majority-Black district,” the judges wrote, adding that Alabama should have a second district with a substantial percentage of Black voters.
This process sucks so much. It takes too long to churn through the courts, which disenfranchises people for possibly multiple elections. If the map designers faced criminal charges, this type of bad faith map drawing would be far less prevalent than it is, across the country.
So they did this, damage was done. 2 years later they will be forced to redraw, they will with same bias, benefit from diluted representation, then in 2 years get called out on it again. Rinse and repeat.
The courts should draw these district boundaries, not those people whose political career depend on it
Federal judges ruled Thursday that Alabama intentionally diluted the voting strength of Black residents when it drew congressional lines and said the state must continue using a court-ordered map that led to the election of the state’s second Black congressman.
People have advanced from not reading the article to not reading the excerpt in the post. Quite impressive really.
The courts need to dictate real fucking consequences for real people and organizations.
Great. Now do Ohio.
And Tennessee!
And Texas
And my axe
Maybe just create a law that establishes a fair algorithm that can’t be gamed, then we can stop all of this once of for all. Wouldn’t that be nice…
What, again? After they ignored it the last time?
Contempt?
Nothing but.
