Publication
Legal Alert – Supreme Court’s Alabama Ruling Sets The Stage For Arizona’s Next Redistricting Battle
by Thomas Clees
The U.S. Supreme Court last week reversed a federal three-judge panel in Alabama that upheld the state’s legislative district map against a racial gerrymandering challenge. Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama concerned whether the state could purposefully overpopulate districts with African-American voters – necessarily reducing their voting power elsewhere – under the auspices of compliance with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act or maintaining racial equality in other districts. The Court rejected both theories and remanded the case for a district-by-district analysis of racial gerrymandering that will almost certainly “unpack” African Americans more evenly across the legislative map.
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