![]() But how could a new map change the next election? INSKEEP: They cannot go back and revote the 2022 election where Republicans got this little advantage. Now vote under this fair and equitable map, this nondiscriminatory map. GILDA DANIELS: You can't get in a time machine now and go back and say, OK, you now have an additional district. ![]() And Daniels told me the Supreme Court put the voting rights of Alabamians at risk. You know, I talked to Gilda Daniels, a former Justice Department official who now teaches at The University of Baltimore's law school. And there was enough time to draw a new voting map, a new congressional map, last year, which probably would not have confused voters who were expecting a new map anyway. But exactly how close is too close to an election? The court has not been clear about that. And the idea is that federal courts should not make changes to voting rules close to an election to avoid confusing voters. Court watchers call it the Purcell principle. And one of the conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh, wrote an opinion, and it talked about this vague legal idea. When the Supreme Court decided to take up this Alabama case back in early 2022, it also put a pause on the lower court's order for a new map to be drawn. WANG: Well, here's where we get into some of the legal weeds here. What was the Supreme Court's rationale for waiting? INSKEEP: Oh, which would give - if you look at the partisan difference - Republicans an extra seat advantage in what turned out to be a very, very close congressional election. So the fact is, Alabama voted last year with illegally drawn voting districts. But, of course, that Supreme Court ruling didn't come until months after last year's midterm elections. Alabama should draw a new map with more than one majority-Black district. And ultimately, the Supreme Court's ruling last month didn't make any changes to race-based redistricting and basically said, we agree with the lower court. WANG: Well, the Alabama Republicans appealed this case to the Supreme Court and turned this into an even bigger legal fight over Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and whether race can be considered when redrawing voting maps. INSKEEP: You said that that ruling was last year. This map likely violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and one majority-Black voting district is not enough because you can draw two. ![]() So a group of Black voters, along with other groups in Alabama, sued, and a lower federal court said last year, this is not a close call. That's one district out of seven districts for a state where more than 1 in 4 people are Black. And that means there was only one district where Black voters had a realistic chance of electing their preferred candidate to represent them in the U.S. WANG: Well, after the 2020 census, Republican state lawmakers approved a new map with only one majority-Black district. ![]() HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve. INSKEEP: NPR's Hansi Lo Wang is covering this story. Supreme Court said Alabama's current map likely weakens the power of Black voters in Alabama. The Republican-led legislature is supposed to draw a new map of congressional voting districts. Today, a special legislative session begins in Montgomery, Ala. ![]()
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