Federal Judges Toss Alabama’s GOP-Skewed Congressional Map, ‘Deeply Troubled’ By Ongoing Effort to Limit Black Representation

A federal panel of three judges, including two Trump appointees, again struck down Alabama’s congressional map on Tuesday for violating the Voting Rights Act by intentionally diluting Black voters.

CNN’s John Berman explained that the same panel had previously ordered Alabama to add a second majority Black district, but had failed to do so with its latest map.

Berman then introduced CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic to break down the implications of the news.

“And, John, you know that this state was told by a special three-judge district court to do it. And effectively, as you said, it didn’t do its homework. It didn’t do its homework from the same teacher. This is the same three-judge panel that had found that Alabama had likely violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by drawing only one district where Blacks had the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. Alabama has seven districts. 27% of the population is African-American. And state legislators only had drawn one district where they could have elected a candidate of their choice. And they had in that one particular district,” Biskupic began, adding:

So, this special panel had said, go back, redraw it. The state appealed to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court. In June, John had affirmed that three-judge panel saying, yes, Alabama, you have failed here. You have not abided by the Voting Rights Act, sent it back. Alabama dug in even deeper, saying, no, we don’t need to create a second Black opportunity or Black majority district here. And, you know, surely tempting this panel which reacted very strongly, the judges said, ‘We are deeply troubled that the state enacted a map that the state readily admits does not provide the remedy we said federal law requires.’

And I want to say something about this panel, John, that you should know. This is in no way a flaming liberal court that has been striking down Alabama’s effort here. It’s made up of two Trump appointees and one appointee of former President Bill Clinton.

Biskupic went on to note the potential impact of the ruling, explaining that while “this really affects voting rights in Alabama, but it overall could affect the makeup of the House of Representatives.”

“And these battles, these voting rights battles could end up with more Black majority districts and potentially more Democrats that could change the makeup of the U.S. House. John, so this is a very important decision today,” she concluded.

Watch the full clip above via CNN.

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