“Alabama’s Unfair Voting Maps: Striking Down Discrimination for Good”

In a stunning move on Thursday, a federal court in Alabama struck down a gerrymandered congressional map for its unconstitutional, unapologetic attempt to prevent black Americans from voting and having a say in the state’s democracy. The three-judge panel ruled that Alabama’s congressional map was unconstitutionally biased, citing the state’s “persistent and intentional racial gerrymandering.” This ruling makes Alabama the first state in which a federal court struck down a congressional map based solely on race. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit that was filed in 2015 by a group of African American residents claiming that the state had crossed the line in manipulating the district lines by trying to marginalize minorities. The suit claimed that African American voters were illegally “packed and cracked” away from districts where they might be able to elect their own representatives. The court ruled that African American voters “were packed into predominantly black districts, minimizing their voting power in other districts.” The court also found that state legislators had been “extraordinarily persistent” in their attempts to entrench a racial gerrymander. A statement from the court reads: “It is abundantly clear that race was the predominant motivation in drawing the challenged district.” As a result, the court ordered the state to redraw the congressional map and “calculate the effects of the plan on black voting strength” before submitting a new map. Though the ruling is a step in the right direction for racial justice and voting rights, the battle for fair districting is sure to continue in Alabama and other states where minority representation is threatened. Reconfiguring district lines is a core solution in tackling racial inequality, and this ruling is an encouraging reminder that legal action can be taken if boundaries are manipulated in a way that disregards the right of minority voters to participate in democracy.