Black LA Majority Voting District Possible

t was a decision that Republicans weren’t expecting. One that they probably felt was in the bank. After all, they had the U. S. Supreme on their side. Well, at least four of the justices. Black Alabamians were elated following the news that Republicans in the Alabama legislature will have to redraw voting districts in the state as the Supreme Court said it violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Lawmakers, according to the ruling, will have to draw new congressional maps that “reflect the growing Black population” in the state. The 5-4 decision caught everyone by surprise, given the nature of the 6-3 conservative nature of the court, that in the past, had gutted the original voting rights act. Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joined their liberal counterparts in telling Alabama leaders that the maps they drew and passed were unconstitutional. The ripple effects could be felt elsewhere in states located in the South, with special emphasis on one of Alabama’s neighbors, Louisiana. Lawmakers in Louisiana’s capitol Baton Rouge also presented to its conservative-led legislature, congressional maps reflecting the state’s Black population which is one-third compared to Alabama’s 27 percent that was rejected/vetoed by Dem. Gov. John Bel Edwards. The veto did not last, as conservatives voted to override the veto, setting the stage for a lawsuit filed on behalf of Black voters, that is awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court.

But before the lawsuit reached the Supreme Court, a federal district court ruled the map by Republicans was “racially gerrymandered”, which was appealed by Republicans to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. They didn’t get any relief from the 5th Circuit, as the district judge was about to draw the map for the state, but the Supreme Court intervened, ordering a stay on a re-drawing of districts in Louisiana. The reason was that it wanted to consider the Alabama case that was already on the docket. Now that the Supreme Court has issued its ruling, Black lawmakers across the state along with the NAACP are elated and believe that the odds may have been tipped in their favor. It is believed that before the Court rules, it will be sent back to the 5th Circuit, signaling that the suit should be settled there. Even conservative lawmakers aren’t sure that their chances of winning are good, because it would appear that Black voters in Louisiana may have a stronger case. Louisiana has six congressional voting districts with only one where a Black candidate can be elected to Congress. Over the years, Black representatives have argued that their voting strength has been diluted through what they called racial gerrymandering where conservative courts have upheld many decisions over the years including the Supreme Court. That was shown a decade ago when it tore apart the Voting Rights Act that had affected Southern states during the civil rights era which allowed voting practices that discriminated against people of race, color, or membership in certain language groups. But Black voters and representatives will agree that things are looking better than they were.