This Thursday, the Supreme Court of the United States announced an unexpected ruling: the annulment of the voting map of the southern state of Alabama for not proportionally representing the black population. And it is that, despite constituting 27% of the population, only one of the seven districts of the state has a black majority. A decision supported by two of the five conservative Supreme Court judges, John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh, and which is expected to spread to other states in the country.
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It is a decision that has surprised many. This Thursday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Alabama had reduced the power of the black vote by including only one seat – out of seven – of an African-American majority in Congress. A movement that does not accurately represent the population of the State, according to the opinion of the judges of the judicial body.
The ruling accuses that the electoral map used in the 2022 midterm elections violates the Voting Rights Act, since only one of its seven seats has a black majority despite the fact that African-Americans represent a quarter of the state’s population. The state has seven congressional districts, and its voting-age population is approximately 27% black.
The president of the Supreme Court, John G. Roberts Jr., was in charge of drafting the sentence that obtained 5 votes in favor -three liberals and two conservatives- and 4 against and that forces the delimitation of a second predominantly Afro district so that voters blacks have the opportunity to choose their representatives.
The ruling found there were “legitimate concerns” that the law “may impermissibly raise the issue of race in the allocation of political power within states.”
BREAKING: In a win for voters, US Supreme Court issues a decision in Allen v. Milligan blocking Alabama’s congressional map. The Court rules that the map violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting strength of Black voters. More to eat: https://t.co/wBbfGgF7Ba pic.twitter.com/NMqmfOFIxY
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) June 8, 2023
It was feared that the decision would not go ahead, due to the progressive minority in the body. But, by surprise, both the president of the court, John Roberts, and the magistrate Brett Kavanaugh – both conservatives – joined the three progressive judges for the project to go ahead.
In addition to clashing with his political principles, it’s also surprising because just a decade ago Roberts voted against requiring states with a history of racial discrimination to require federal approval before changing their election laws. However, the other four conservatives strongly rejected the ruling.
“This redistricting process pursues a goal that has no legitimate claim in our constitutional system: racially proportional allocation of political power,” said African-American conservative Clarence Thomas.
Along the same lines, Steve Marshall, the state’s Republican attorney general, assured that he will challenge the case in federal courts so that the current map is restored.
“Although the majority decision is disappointing, this case is not over,” Marshall promised in a statement.
Instead, the Biden administration celebrated the result and sided with Alabama’s black voters.
The civil struggle behind this decision
As a victory for democracy and for black Americans. This is how Evan Milligan, black voter and main plaintiff in the case, defined the victory this Thursday.
“We are grateful that the Supreme Court upheld what we knew to be true: that everyone deserves to have their vote count and their voice heard. Today is a victory for democracy and freedom, not just in Alabama, but throughout the United States,” Milligan said.
And this case is part of the civil struggle over redistricting that is being waged across the country, not just in Alabama. Leaders of civil rights organizations like Milligan say the redistricting process often hurts minority communities. Especially in the Republican controlled states.
“Today’s decision rejects efforts to further erode fundamental voting rights protections and upholds the principle that all eligible voters in America should be able to exercise their constitutional right without discrimination on the basis of race,” Merrick said. B. Garland, attorney general of the United States, through a statement from the Department of Justice.
The National Redistricting Foundation said in a statement that its pending lawsuits over the congressional districts in Georgia and Texas will be resolved promptly. Louisiana is on the way to redrawing its voting map for the same reason and the case of South Carolina will be studied next fall.
Although all of the contested states deny racial bias in their voting system, progressives do not. In the October arguments, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson scoffed at the idea that race could not be part of the equation.
“The constitutional amendments passed after the Civil War and the Voting Rights Act a century later sought the same thing, to make black Americans ‘equal to white citizens,’” noted Jackson, the court’s first black woman.
On the other hand, the position of the Biden Executive is not accidental. Concessions to African Americans in several states across the country are expected to give the Democratic Party more presence in Congress.
With AP, EFE and local media
