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Alabama Republicans have proposed a new congressional map that challengers say is still biased against Black residents despite a recent Supreme Court ruling meant to fix the imbalance, NBC News reports.
In the case of Allen v. Milligan, the Supreme Court ruled last month to strike down Alabama's Republican-drawn congressional map that only included one majority-Black District in a state with a 28 percent Black population. The Supreme Court said the map was unconstitutional as it diluted the power of Black voters.
The Alabama legislature was ordered to adopt a new congressional map with two majority-Black districts by Friday (July 22), but the GOP majority is taking a different approach.
During a special session earlier this week, Alabama Republicans proposed a new map that still only includes one majority-Black district. The GOP redrew the lines of a neighboring district to include more Black voters, but not enough to make it majority-Black at 42 percent.
Republican lawmakers have acknowledged that the second district is still not majority-Black, but they believe the map will satisfy the court's orders, per NBC News.
Evan Milligan, a lead plaintiff in the Allen v. Milligan case, said Black people will continue to face disparities in health care, the workforce, and education due to voter suppression.
“We’re very concerned about even the process that produced that map,” Milligan said of the proposed map. “A process that seemed to lack accountability and real regard for what the court ordered our Legislature to do. It’s disappointing that this happened now, given the importance of good representation in our way of life.”
Under the Supreme Court's ruling, the Legislature has until Friday to approve a new map, which must be in place for the 2024 elections. The court will weigh the proposed map and decide whether it can be implemented.
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