Alabama will become the latest state to enter the mid-decade redistricting fight after Gov. Kay Ivey said Friday she will call lawmakers back to Montgomery for a special session. The move comes just days after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, struck down Louisiana’s second majority-black congressional district after determining that the use of race in forming congressional districts is unconsitutional.
Ivey at first rejected on the noting of Alabama redistricting its map, saying that she was “encouraged” but that “Alabama is currently under a court order prohibiting the use of new congressional districts until after the 2030 census.”
On Thursday afternoon, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Secretary of State Wes Allen filed emergency motions to lift injunctions on three redistricting cases in Alabama.
“I think we have an opportunity to be able to defend our maps in a way that’s consistent with the principles in which we should be able to draw maps across the country,” said Marshall. “For years, the courts have conflated an examination what I would describe as black and white instead of red and blue.”
On Friday, Ivey changed her earlier stance and called a special session of the Alabama Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional districts. The move is intended to benefit the Republican majority in the state, provided that the court order is lifted.
Allen said Alabama’s May 19 primary election is still ongoing as planned, according to WBRC.
Republicans currently hold five of Alabama’s seven congressional seats, down one after the court-ordered creation of a second majority-black district. Last August, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ruled that the state must continue using the court-drawn congressional map, but that ruling appears moot after the Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday.
Before the Milligan v. Allen decision and the redrawn map, Alabama Republicans had controlled six of the state’s seven House seats for decades. Critics of the Louisiana v. Callais ruling argue that Alabama’s black population, which makes up roughly 25 percent of the state, should translate into at least two congressional districts representing minority communities. But again, districts cannot be drawn on the basis of race, according to SCOTUS.
Ivey’s special session will start on Monday, and she says she wants to see it “completed within five days.” She added: “During this special session, I have called on the Legislature to address legislation to provide for a special primary election for electing members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Alabama State Senate in districts whose boundary lines are altered by court action.”
“Following the successful 2020 census, Alabama maintained our representation in Congress, and I called a special session to redraw our maps. Since then, we have been battling federal courts and activist groups who think they know Alabama better than Alabama,” she added in a statement.
“Earlier this week, however, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a positive decision in the Louisiana v. Callais case, which I said was encouraging for our own pending litigation. I also acknowledged that Alabama’s redistricting battle is not over. The state remains under a court order prohibiting the use of new congressional maps until after the 2030 census,” Ivey continued.
“While we were not yet in position to call a special session earlier this week, I said we needed to keep up our fight in the courts. Immediately, Attorney General Steve Marshall filed emergency motions at the U.S. Supreme Court regarding Alabama’s redistricting case. As I said following the emergency motions being filed, I remain hopeful Alabama will receive a favorable outcome from the U.S. Supreme Court, which is why I am now calling a special session of the Alabama Legislature,” she said.