The era of Democrats being able to use race in redistricting efforts might be coming to an end, and they will get exactly what they deserve.
As the U.S. Supreme Court gets ready to decide on whether to put a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act back on the shelf, the ramifications of such a decision are becoming clearer. Especially in states like Alabama.
The high court will rule on the Louisiana v. Callais, and the conservative majority is likely to ban racial gerrymandering.
Louisiana used the same Gingles test ‘50%+ black voting-age population (BVAP)’ mechanism to draw an additional black opportunity district as Allen v. Milligan, Alabama’s redistricting litigation, which subsequently became Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District under federal order.
Separately, a federal court judge ruled in August that Alabama’s 2021 State Senate map violates the Voting Rights Act in the Montgomery area.
It should have been obvious to everyone that Alabama’s proposed map after the 2020 Census wasn’t controversial. In fact it was pretty similar to previous maps.
Democrats wanted to find a way to make sure that their party won an additional seat in the Yellowhammer State, so of course, they played the race card. They won the battle – but they’re about to lose the war.
Instead of just accepting the reasonable map originally put forward by the Legislature, Democrats might lose multiple seats in the near future.
A new report shows that at the state legislative level, a court ruling that strikes down Section 2 could lead to Democrats losing about 191 seats across the country, including some in Alabama.
The fact is racial gerrymandering goes against our constitutional order. We are all supposed to be equal under the law, and drawing districts based solely on race goes against that principle.
It’s true that Republicans in the South will now be able to draw maps favorable to their party, but really this is just leveling the playing field.
Just look at many of the New England states and you’ll see that Democrats are no strangers to gerrymandering in order to help themselves safely retain, and even continue to gain, more seats.
The Democrats tried to use the courts to play the race card and tilt the electoral maps in their favor. But that might soon backfire into a political reckoning.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
