MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – A pair of lawsuits announced Monday are challenging Alabama’s new congressional and legislative districts as racially gerrymandered to diminish the voting power of Black and minority voters.
The lawsuits argue the new districts unlawfully pack Black voters into a small number of districts – limiting their ability to influence elections outside those districts – and break up minority communities elsewhere in the state. The cases were brought on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries, Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, and several individuals who are being represented by advocacy groups.
“What Alabama is attempting to do here is not only wrong and undemocratic. It’s also a clear extension of a sadly consistent pattern in Alabama history in which lawmakers and powerbrokers use cynical measures in an attempt to marginalize Black and brown communities,” Deuel Ross, Senior Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., said in a news release.
The lawsuits are asking federal judges to block the maps from being used in the 2022 elections.
Alabama lawmakers approved new congressional, legislative and school board districts earlier this month. Republican legislative leaders have expressed confidence the maps will survive a court challenge. The lawsuits announced Monday join at least two others challenging the newly drawn congressional districts.