FILE - Sen. Rodger Smitherman compares U.S. Representative district maps during the special session on redistricting at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala., on Nov. 3, 2021. A three-judge federal court issued an order Tuesday giving the Legislature until July 21, 2023, to draw a new map because the current one most likely violates the Voting Rights Act. (Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP, File)
A three-judge federal district court issued an order Tuesday giving the Alabama Legislature until July 21 to pass a congressional district map to replace the one that courts have ruled most likely violates the Voting Rights Act, a deadline that state officials requested last week.
If the Legislature fails to pass a plan by that date, the three-judge court’s experts will begin work on a new map. The new map, whether drawn by the Legislature or the court, will be used for Alabama’s 2024 congressional elections.
House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Guntersville, said representatives have been notified to expect a special session in July. It will be up to Gov. Kay Ivey to call the session and choose the date. Ledbetter said he believes lawmakers will be able to approve a plan by the deadline.
“At the end of the day, we really don’t have a choice,” Ledbetter said. “We either pass it by that day or they’re going to draw it. And I think for the people of Alabama and for the citizens concerned it’s a little bit more feasible for Alabamians to draw it instead of a federal court. So I think it’s imperative that we get it done.”
Ledbetter said lawyers representing the Legislature and lawyers for Attorney General Steve Marshall are talking about the guidelines needed for a new map to be approved by the court.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations about that between our attorneys and the attorney general,” Ledbetter said. “So, I think we’ll be able to get something out. And I think it’s important that we do simply because the legislative body is elected by the people of the state and this gives the state a chance to put a map together and not the federal government.”
Tuesday’s order verified the next steps and the dates that lawyers for the state and for plaintiffs generally agreed to during a status conference with the three judges on Friday. It follows the June 8 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which found that Alabama’s congressional map likely violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the influence of Black voters.
Only one of the state’s seven congressional districts has a majority Black population even though 27% of the state’s population is Black. The Supreme Court decision affirmed the three-judge court’s decision of last year and sent the case back to the district court. Tuesday’s ruling means that the three-judge court is giving the Legislature the first opportunity to enact a new map. The judges ruled that a new map will need to have a second majority Black district or one that is close to majority Black to fix the likely Voting Rights Act violation.
Also in Tuesday’s order, the judges ordered the lawyers for the state to provide the court with status reports on July 7 and July 14, and to report on July 21 whether the Legislature has approved a new map. The court’s special master and cartographer will begin work on a map after July 21 if the Legislature fails to pass a map.
If the Legislature approves a new map by the July 21 deadline, the Black voters and organizations who are plaintiffs in the litigation will have until July 28 to file objections to the new map. Lawyers for the state would have to respond by Aug. 4. If a hearing in the case is necessary, it will begin on Aug. 14. Three groups of plaintiffs filed lawsuits, identified by the names of the lead plaintiffs as the Milligan case, the Caster case, and the Singleton case.
The three judges, Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, District Judge Anna M. Manasco, and District Judge Terry F. Moorer, wrote that Secretary of State Wes Allen told the court that a new map would need to be in place by Oct. 1, 2023 to conduct the 2024 congressional elections.
Ledbetter said the Legislature’s reapportionment committee, which drew the current map, is beginning work on a new map. House Speaker Pro-Tem Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, is co-chair of the committee, as he was two years ago when the current map was approved. Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, is the other co-chair. Livingston replaced former Sen. Jim McClendon, who did not run for reelection last year.
“The process has started,” Ledbetter said. “Pro-tem Pringle was chair of that committee before. He still will be in charge of that. I know he’s doing some due diligence and trying to get things lined up with the attorneys and everybody else.”
Here are the other House members of the Reapportionment Committee, appointed by Ledbetter: Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa; Barbara Boyd, D-Anniston; Jim Carns, R-Birmingham; Steve Clouse, R-Ozark; Corley Ellis, R-Columbiana; Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa; Laura Hall, D-Huntsville; Sam Jones, D-Mobile; Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn; and Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville.
The Senate members, appointed by Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, are Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, 1st Congressional District; Will Barfoot, R-Montgomery, 2nd Congressional District; Lance Bell, R-St. Clair County, 3rd Congressional District; Clay Scofield, R-Guntersville, 4th Congressional District; Livingston, 5th Congressional District; Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, 6th Congressional District; Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, 7th Congressional District; and at-large members Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, Jack Williams, R-Mobile County; Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, and Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva.
Public hearings and meetings of the Reapportionment Committee will be posted on the Legislature’s website.
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