Supreme Court news: Justices reject Alabama GOP congressional map under Voting Rights Act
Kaelan Deese
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The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled Alabama discriminated against black voters during its redistricting process last year, a decision that relied on the Voting Rights Act.
The ruling in the case Allen v. Milligan means that Alabama will have to redraw its congressional map to include a second majority-black district. The 5-4 decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and saw Justice Brett Kavanaugh join, marking an alliance between two conservatives and three liberals in the majority.
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Through this decision, the 6-3 Republican-appointed majority turned away Alabama’s effort to make it more difficult to alleviate concerns by civil rights groups that raise allegations about redistricting efforts that dilute the power of black voters.
The Supreme Court has in two cases over the last decade weakened the Voting Rights Act, starting in 2013 when it tossed out a provision of the law which permitted federal oversight of election law challenges in certain states.
A separate 2021 ruling deriving from Arizona made it more difficult to bring forth cases under Section 2 of the VRA.
Challengers in the dispute argued Alabama could have easily drawn a second majority-black district, offering several different maps with possible configurations.
This is a developing story and will be updated.