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The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that black voters in Alabama are challenging the state’s GOP-friendly congressional map, a major voting rights decision that could have major ramifications in the 2024 election and beyond.
In a 5-4 decision by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that concluded that the state’s existing map, drawn from the 2020 Census, likely violated Article 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race. As a result, the card remains blocked from use while the lawsuit continues.
After the 2020 census, Alabama created a new redistribution map for its seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alabama currently has only one district with a black majority in seven seats, out of a statewide population that is about a quarter black.
A group of voters in Alabama, the NAACP and Greater Birmingham Ministries filed a lawsuit, claiming that the new maps limited black voter influence by placing people from “majority-black counties … in majority-white congressional districts in sufficiently low numbers that black voters have no electoral influence.”
The Supreme Court can be seen at sunset in Washington, on November 6, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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They argued that the map should be redrawn so that Alabama has two predominantly black districts instead of just one — and the court agreed.
Roberts said in the majority opinion, “The crux of these matters is not about the law as it exists. It’s about Alabama’s attempt to remake our (Section 2) case law.”
“The centerpiece of the state’s effort is what it calls the race-neutral benchmark,” the advisory states. The theory behind it is that mapmakers can use computer technology to generate millions of possible district maps for a given state. The maps can be designed to meet traditional district criteria, but not to account for race.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is seen before President Biden delivers his State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on March 1, 2022. (Julia Nikhinson-Pool/Getty Images)
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“The State believes that this measure should serve as a point of comparison in (section 2) cases. The measure, the State says, is derived from cards that were ‘race-blind’ – cards that were not ‘refused’ or short(ed)” someone’s right to vote “on the grounds of race” because they never considered race in the first place,” the advisory said.
Roberts said the majority of the court finds “Alabama’s new approach to (Section 2) compelling in both theory and practice.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Supreme Court decision “rejects efforts to further erode protections of basic voting rights, and upholds the principle that in the United States all eligible voters exercise their constitutional right to vote free from discrimination on on the basis of their race.” .”
Judge Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent, joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. (Getty Images)
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Judge Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent, joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, saying:
The question is whether (Section 2) of the law, as amended, requires the state of Alabama to deliberately redraw its longstanding congressional districts so that black voters can control a number of seats roughly proportional to the state’s black share. 2 does not require such a thing, and if it did, the Constitution would not allow it.”
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In a separate dissident opinion, Judge Alito said the decision “unnecessarily puts the VRA on a dangerous and unfortunate path.”
Brianna Herlihy is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
